Destiny Will Be The Death Of Me
by Cloud van Dyk
Summary: Everyone has a destiny, some more colourful than others. But what if one doesn't want to accept theirs? Haruka has it all, fame, fortune and all the female company she might ask for, but when Michiru Kaioh enters her life, everything might change. Pre-Series, Rating might change with later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Yeah… so much about the previously posted one-shot being a one time thing. Apparently, my mind thinks it's really time to go back to this fandom and started coughing up ideas for a multi-chapter-fic, so there we go. I hope you'll enjoy. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Just borrowing the whole thing for a while to play with it. :D

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Destiny Will Be The Death Of Me

"Will you call me?" the girl, whose name Haruka didn't even remember anymore, asked, batting her eyelashes at her; smiling charmingly, the tall blonde nodded, holding back the urge to let her smile turn into a smirk when the girl beamed happily at her.

"Talk to you soon then", she then said, earning yet another nod from the blonde; her smile impossibly widened even further, then she finally turned and made her way down the stairs, prompting Haruka to close the apartment door, the smile vanishing from her face the moment it had clicked shut.

Shaking her head to herself at how deluded this girl had been, she made her way from the small anteroom to the kitchen and set up the coffee machine there, leaning against the spotless counter as she watched the dark liquid start to run through; the noises the machine was making annoyed her, and she made a mental note to herself to buy a new, quieter one soon, smirking to herself again as she looked around the kitchen and figured that she could easily afford it. After all, now that her career in racing finally was taking off for real, sponsors were practically lining up to plaster their advertisements all over her car and her racing suit, and still did even after it had been revealed by a jealous competitor that she wasn't, as they all had believed, a man, but a woman – to his endless dismay, this only had given her popularity yet another boost, and by now she was sure that soon, she'd be among the top racers of the class she currently was driving in.

The fact that the reveal of her true gender hadn't damaged her popularity hadn't really surprised her, not in an age where strong women were looked up to and were seen as role models for younger girls; what had been quite the surprise though was that said young girls (never too young though, she wasn't after jailbait, after all) still chased her the way they had when they had thought she was a guy, and now that there was no danger of hysterics in the bedroom anymore after that misconception had been corrected, she more than willingly took them home with her, had fun with them for one night and then never saw them again.

This was what she had been doing for more than a month now, and every now and then, she asked herself if her behaviour would spread, if it would keep girls from going with her sooner or later and if behaving this way might damage her reputation after all; on the other hand though, she knew that the most important thing was that she kept winning, and she surely wasn't the only racer who used their groupies this way, none of the others who behaved this way so far having suffered for it in any way.

Shrugging those worries off as the coffee got done, Haruka decided that she'd just keep going as long as it was possible without any repercussions – after all, even though she didn't want any kind of commitment in her life, preferring it the way it was now, with meaningless flings she never had to see again, she did have her needs, and satisfying them with her female groupies worked out just fine.

Humming softly to herself, with her needs for at least now sated again, the blonde poured herself a cup of coffee, adding milk and a rather generous amount of sugar; and while she stirred the dark liquid, she made her way to the small room she used as her office to check her schedule for the day, the girl who had left not even an hour ago already forgotten.

_Darkness, so complete that it was absolute, not the smallest shimmer of light breaking it. _

_Sounds of demolition, destruction, death and despair._

_And then a horribly familiar voice, screaming, screaming in pain and for her, her name, pleading her to help her, but she can't do anything, all she can do is stand in the dark and try to see anything and the voice screams and screams and screams…_

With a strangled noise which should have been a scream, but only ended up as a high-pitched wheeze, Haruka opened her eyes; for a moment, she panicked as she found herself in the dark, still stuck in her dream, then her eyes got used to the darkness and she could make out the vague silhouettes of the furniture in her bedroom, her racing heart slowly returning to a healthier speed as she fully realized that she had dreamed again, that she was safe and sound in her apartment and in her bed, with no absolute darkness surrounding her and no screaming.

Letting out a heavy breath, Haruka rolled over and got out of bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she made her way into the bathroom; there, she filled the glass she normally used while brushing her teeth with cold water and drank it down in a few hasty gulps, then leaned her forehead against the cool surface of the bathroom mirror, closing her eyes again as she breathed heavily again, unable to get the dream, the nightmare, out of her mind.

If it had been just a regular dream, it wouldn't have bothered her so much, she told herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, at as much as she could see of it in the dark; by now though, she seriously doubted that it was just a regular dream, considering the unsettling fact that she'd had it every night for the last two weeks.

Finally, she forced the unpleasant dream out of her mind, splashing some cold water into her face to help clearing it even further; then, she made her way back to the bed, cursing under her breath when she bumped her toe on something before she reached it and laid back down, sending a quick prayer to whoever might listen that the dream wouldn't haunt her again before she drifted off into sleep again, slumbering deeply until the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

For once, she had a day without any interviews or photo shoots ahead of her, deciding that she'd use the lately so rare free time for some leisure time at the race track, hanging out with mechanics and the other drivers of her team; ever since her gender had been revealed to the world, newspapers, TV and radio station had been even more keen on having her on their shows and front pages than they had been before, and she hardly had any days without any appointments.

With a roll of her eyes, she remembered the latest photo shoot her agent had organized for her – it had been marketed to him as an ordinary shoot, just some regular pictures of her, but when she had arrived there, the photographer had suddenly talked of her "feminine side" and of "swimsuits", and she nearly had ended up decking him in the face, regaining her self-control in the last possible moment. Luckily though, the photographer had relented when he had noticed her growing anger; and ever since then, her agent made sure that the photo shoots wouldn't have anything to do with swimsuits or her feminine side, not wanting to receive another angry call from her and get yelled at, well aware of how explosive her temper could be.

This morning though, her temper was as far from exploding as it could be; the dream had been pushed to the far back of her mind, where it easily could be ignored, and thus, she felt calm and content as she had her morning shower, then tried to comb her hair – without much success, it just tended to be messy and unruly, no matter what she tried – before she made her way into the kitchen to prepare coffee, switching on the radio on the way to the coffee machine and even whistling along to the song it was playing seconds later.

While she waited for the coffee to get done, she checked the fridge, frowning at the lack of food – all it was holding was half an onion, the leftovers of the takeout she'd had the evening before, and a few cans of coke, nothing which would be suitable for breakfast. Not willing to let this ruin her mood though, Haruka decided that she might as well get something to eat on her way to the track and closed the fridge again; leaning against the counter, she watched the coffee machine closely, as if that would make it get done faster, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited, impatiently tapping her foot on the tiled floor.

"At last", she mumbled to herself as the coffee finally got done, once more reminding herself that she'd have to get a new machine soon – one which wasn't just quieter, but also quicker, since she needed her caffeine fix quickly in the morning and didn't want to wait for ages each day. Now that the black liquid finally was done though, she fixed it up the way she liked it, with sugar and milk, and sat down to drink, reading the morning paper while she did so; they had printed yet another interview with her, and she read through it quickly, making sure that they hadn't turned any of her words around or used any of the other tricks some journalists were so fond of.

Once the coffee had been emptied and the paper had been read, Haruka made her way back to the bedroom, suddenly eager to get out of the apartment and to the racetrack; she quickly got dressed, choosing quite casual clothing as she pulled on a pair of black jeans and a matching button-up shirt of the same colour, running her fingers through her unruly hair once more as she made her way to the small anteroom. Just as quickly as she had gotten dressed, she put on her shoes and jacket, then left the apartment and took the elevator down in the garage; her newly bought car, a bright yellow convertible which was her pride and joy and made her quite hard to miss on Tokyo's busy streets.

Not even bothering to open the vehicle's door, she simply hopped over it and landed in the driver's seat, making the soft leather crunch; the engine roared to life seconds later, and she took a moment to just enjoy the sound of it, the smooth purring which turned into a roar the moment her foot pushed down the gas pedal. Smirking to herself, she steered the car out of the garage and on the street, enjoying the looks of the other drivers and the pedestrians – after all, she was quite young with her twenty years, and surely, those people didn't expect someone of her age to drive such an expensive car.

With her mood even better than it had been when she had woken up, she drove through the city, to the outskirts where the racetrack was located; several people looked up when she arrived there and drove up to the garage of her team, nods and briefly raised hands greeting her as she killed the engine and got out of the car.

"Haruka-san!" one of the mechanics called out to her, wiping his oily hands on an equally cloth – and briefly making her wonder if he didn't just smear the oil back and forth instead of actually cleaning his skin – as he made his way over to her; he held his hand out to her, then seemed to realize that his fingers were quite dirty, since he blushed slightly and pulled back again before she could grasp it, giving her a sheepish look.

"Been a while since we saw you here just for leisure", he then let her know, "or are you having a surprise race later on and want to check we treat your baby well?"

"Nope", the taller blonde let him know, giving him a brief smile while she pocketed her car keys, "got a free day for once, with no press stuff or anything, so I thought I might as well drop by and see how you guys are doing."

"Checking on the normal folk, then", he teased, making her chuckle – ever since her popularity had sky-rocketed, the mechanics and lesser known racers would tease and joke about how soon, she'd look down on them, even though she tried her best to keep both feet on the ground.

"Yeah, making sure you guys are doing a proper job", she teased back, earning a snicker from him as well; they grinned at each other, then made their way back to the garage together, where the mechanic had been working on a car before Haruka had interrupted him with her arrival.

"Check this out", he told her, gesturing at said car, "you're gonna like this, it's a new fuel injection system we're gonna test with this car. If it works out, we'll put it in yours."

"Sounds good", the blonde nodded, moving closer to the open hood of the car and peering at the system, "and looks good, too. Maybe I should take that car for a test run once you finished that."

"No way", the mechanic protested at once, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him, "you're our best racer, Yakimura will have my head if I let you be the first tester for this."

"He'll never need to know", Haruka winked at him, making him roll his eyes; he opened his mouth to say something, but before he did so, his gaze suddenly moved from the blonde's face to something behind her, his eyes widening slightly as he let out a soft, awed "Wow", causing her turn around, curious about what had caused this reaction.

Moments later, she felt as if someone had punched her in the gut with all their might, knocking all the air out of her; the reason for this wasn't that the girl standing a few feet away from her, looking straight at her, was exceptionally pretty, but that, the moment their eyes had met, she just _knew _that this was the one she had heard screaming in her nightmares for the last two weeks, even before the girl had said a single word.

"Tenoh-san", the girl now greeted her politely, only confirming what Haruka already had known the moment their gazes had met, "how nice to meet you. Do you have a moment?"

"Dude", she heard the mechanic whisper behind her before she had the chance to tell her no, "that's Michiru Kaioh! You totally want to tap that!"

With a held-back groan, Haruka realized that her exploits with her various groupies had come to the attention of her team mates, and that it would seem more than odd to them if she'd just reject a beautiful girl like Michiru Kaioh for no obvious reason; thus, she made herself nod, the other girl briefly smiling at her before she asked her if they could go to a more secluded place, earning yet another nod in reply.

"Follow me", she then more or less grumbled, causing the mechanic behind her to gasp at her rude tone; ignoring him for now, she led the smaller girl through the garage and to the break room, glad to see that it was empty, her heart hammering up to her throat as she asked herself what she could expect from this girl now.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Actually, I was planning to update once a week, but since I didn't want to leave you people hanging with the cliffy from the last chapter (especially after it was pointed out to me in the kind review by jadedlilgirl - thanks! :D), I figured I'd be nice and post this now :) Enjoy! :)

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"Thank you for taking time for me, Tenoh-san", Michiru told her as soon as the door of the break room had fallen close behind them and they were alone, "I know how busy your schedule is."

"What do you want", Haruka demanded to know in reply, not all too kind or polite, but not really caring about it – her heart was still racing in her chest, and she already knew that the aqua haired girl would tell her something unpleasant even before she replied.

"I believe you know very well what I want", Michiru gave back, the smile vanishing from her face so quickly that it seemed someone had wiped it off, "you've been waiting for me, haven't you?"

"No", Haruka replied at once, not even lying – she had known that this was the girl she had heard screaming in her dreams the moment their eyes had met just minutes ago, but until she had stood right behind her, she never had expected to meet her or just to find out who she was.

Raising an eyebrow, Michiru looked at her doubtfully, clearly not sure if she could believe her; then, she apparently shrugged it off, since she smiled again, a small and kind smile, seeming a bit disappointed when the taller woman didn't return it.

"I don't know you", Haruka quickly told her, before she could say anything, "and I don't want anything from you. Now I'd appreciate it if you could leave again, I have work to do."

"No, you don't", Michiru replied lightly, ignoring it when the blonde's gaze darkened, "and you know we need to talk."

"We have nothing to talk about", the taller woman insisted, irritated when Michiru let out a sigh in response – before she took a step closer to her, and it cost nearly all of her willpower to remain where she was and not move away to make sure they kept a safe distance between them.

"Yes, we do", the aqua haired girl insisted, holding her gaze, "I know that you're scared, Tenoh-san, and believe me, I understand it, but you can't run from this."

"I don't know what you are talking about", Haruka snapped, unable to keep her temper in check any longer – who did this woman think she was, coming here and accusing her of being scared of God knew what and of running away from whatever she was talking about?

"This talk is over", she added before Michiru could reply anything, "and now get off the premises, before I call security. You have five minutes."

And with those words, she turned around and strode towards the door, with the intention to just leave her standing there; the moment her hand touched the doorknob though, Michiru spoke up again, in a calm and kind and controlled voice, and Haruka froze at her words, barely able to believe her ears. "Having any bad dreams lately, Tenoh-san?"

* * *

Even though she didn't want to, and every fibre of her body screamed that she shouldn't, Haruka couldn't help herself, but just had to turn around to look at Michiru once more; and again, she held her gaze, nodding the moment their eyes met, as if she wanted to confirm her own words.

"I know what they are like", she then let Haruka know, taking another step closer to her, "I had them, too, before my destiny was revealed to me. Do you hear me scream in your dreams, Tenoh-san? Because I heard you."

"Shut up", Haruka almost wheezed in reply, suddenly feeling as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs and out of the room; to her dismay, Michiru clearly didn't intend to do just that, merely giving her another look while she moved yet another step closer.

"I know that you're scared", she repeated her earlier words, "I know how awful those dreams can be. But please, Tenoh-san… Haruka-san… you have to listen to me. You're having those dreams for a reason, and for the same reason, I'm here."

"Shut up", Haruka repeated, a bit louder this time, her words clearly taking Michiru aback, since her eyes briefly widened, just long enough to let the blonde notice, "I don't want to hear this! I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Haruka-san", Michiru tried again to reach her, to make her see; before she could say anything else though, the blonde just shook her head, then turned and opened the door so roughly she nearly tore it off the hinges, practically storming outside a second later, earning odd looks from the mechanics all around.

Ignoring them just as much as she ignored Michiru calling out her name again, once more using her first name even though that was quite the rude thing to do, she hurried to her car and jumped into it; she rammed the key into the ignition with enough force to fear for a moment that it'd break, then turned it and stomped down on the gas pedal, racing towards the gate leading out of the garage with screeching tires moments later.

With her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were standing out whitely, Haruka kept up the high speed as she drove away from the garage and, instead of back to town, down the road which would lead past the outskirts of Tokyo and into the countryside; the short talk with the strange aqua haired girl had shaken her up more than she had thought possible, and the mere thought of going back to her apartment and just sitting there made her stomach clench up, the decision that she'd just drive around for a while to clear her head thus being an easy one.

Finally, she managed to loosen up enough to slow the car down a bit, the need to stomp down on the gas pedal fading away; still she was gripping the steering wheel tightly, only minimally relaxing her hold on it, her mind running wild as she drove down the quiet rural road, glad that it was in the middle of the day and that her car was the only one on the road.

"Stupid crazy girl", she muttered to herself, never taking her gaze off the road, "who does she think she is, coming to the garage and just talking about dreams and what not… those groupies really can be quite creepy…"

If she had taken a moment to reflect, she would have realized how good her mind was at repressing the truth behind Michiru's words, reducing them to mere crazy babble in an attempt to protect herself; since this would have rendered this protection useless though, the thought never made it to the surface of her mind, being suppressed as much as the nightmares which plagued her night after night.

Shaking her head to herself, she forced the thoughts of Michiru and of what the aqua haired girl had said to her out of her mind, fully focusing on the road and on the feeling of the wind in her hair; and finally, she managed to write the incident off as a crazy groupie who had no idea what she was talking about, almost believing herself by the time she returned to her apartment building.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Haruka finally had calmed down enough to drive back home, she did just that, all thoughts about Michiru, her nightmares and the strange words of the smaller girl forgotten; the moment she had arrived at her home though, she checked her schedule for the next day, knowing she'd only end up brooding and thinking if she'd just sit around in the apartment for the rest of the day.

A smirk formed on her face when she realized that the first appointment was in the early afternoon, which meant that she had all morning to sleep in after going out – and that she would go out wasn't even a question anymore, not after the nicely fitting schedule. It took her just a moment to figure out where'd she go, and before she left, she still took the time to change into clothing more suitable for what she was planning to do; and not even half an hour after she had arrived at home, she was in her car again, driving through the busy streets of Tokyo to the bar she usually went to whenever she felt the need for a conquest.

By now, she had been there often enough that the waiters and the barkeep recognized her, nodding a greeting when she entered; she returned the gesture, then moved to sit on the bar, knowing that there, she'd have the best chance to see and be seen by the others girls in the small, slightly dim room. Letting her gaze wander, she checked out the other guests, most of them girls, some of them already meeting her eyes and smiling coyly; these, she favoured with the lopsided smirk she knew the girls liked so much, convinced that she wouldn't have to wait long for a conquest when several of them let their smiles widen at the sight.

"What can I get ya, Tenoh-san", the barkeep distracted her from checking out the girls in the room; he smiled at her, as if to make up for doing just that, and after a moment, she ordered a coke, remembering that she had driven her car here and not wanting to risk getting stopped by the police after a drink or two – she probably could use her popularity to avoid any troubles, but she'd never thought all too highly of people who did that, and didn't want to end up as one of them after all.

Nodding at her order, the barkeep gave her another smile, then went to get her drink; and the moment he had turned his back on Haruka, a girl slid on the empty barstool next to her and smiled charmingly at her, the blonde immediately returning the smile as she took in the girl's appearance and her built, quite satisfied with what she was seeing.

"Hello there", the girl now greeted her, leaning a bit closer to her, "you're Haruka Tenoh, aren't you? The racer?"

"Yup", the blonde confirmed, holding back a smirk – ever since she'd gotten really popular, this was the line she heard most often whenever a girl came up to talk to her, always accompanied with that certain kind of smile that promised much more if she wanted it.

"I know you probably get this a million times a day", the girl went on after a moment of just holding her gaze, "but would you mind giving me your autograph, Tenoh-san?"

"Of course not", Haruka assured her, with a charming smirk of her own, "what's your name? so I'll know whom to dedicate it to."

"Megumi", the girl replied with a blush, a sight which mildly surprised the blonde – normally, the girls who were brave enough to come up to her and talk to her didn't blush when they told her such basic information.

"Well, Megumi-san", she said, with another smirk, amused when the blush deepened, "if you got a pen and paper, I can give you that autograph. Unless you want me to sign somewhere else…?"

It was a daring line, especially to be used with a girl who had blushed when just saying her name; to her relief though, the risk she had taken hadn't been too big, since Megumi's blush faded again and she smiled coyly, then even leaned forward and surprised Haruka again by running one hand up and down her arm, quite the daring thing to do, considering they just knew each other for a few minutes.

"You can sign anywhere you want, Haruka-san", Megumi nearly breathed, holding the blonde's gaze; smirking, she just nodded, the other girl smiling back at once, convincing her that this night, she wouldn't need to go home alone.

* * *

_The darkness was everywhere again, so complete that no matter how much she tried to strain her eyes, all she could see was black. And the sounds were everywhere, again, as well, crumbling buildings and screaming people, their screams ending abruptly as they died, killed so fast that it merely took the blink of an eye._

_And then, the voice was back, Michiru's voice as she knew now, screaming for her, begging for help, help she wouldn't, _couldn't_ give, until she got cut off in mid-scream, and Haruka knew that it was her fault, that she had failed to protect her, had failed her duty, had failed the queen…_

"Haruka!" The voice tore her out of her sleep, but she immediately knew it wasn't Michiru, and it took her a few seconds to recognize it, her eyes snapping open as she laid in the darkness of her bedroom, breathing heavily, with Megumi right next to her and looking at her – not with concern though, as Haruka would have expected, seeing she had probably woken the other girl up with screaming because of her dream, but with a furrowed brow, showing a hint of annoyance.

"Who's Michiru?!" she demanded to know, causing the blonde to blink in confusion; Megumi's frown deepened, and then she got out of bed with surprising speed, not even caring that she still was buck naked.

"Um", Haruka let out, not all too smart, but not knowing what else she could say – after all, she could hardly tell Megumi that Michiru was a girl she had met earlier that day who had freaked her out with strange talk about dreams and how they shared them.

"You know what", Megumi snapped before she could try to come up with anything, "I don't even care. Don't tell me, I don't wanna know. You know, when I went to talk to you, my friends in the bar warned me about how you take girls home, do them and then never call them, but I didn't care, I'm not into dating anyway. I draw the line though at the woman I just had sex with screaming for another girl while I'm right next to her."

"Um", the blonde repeated, prompting the other girl to shoot her a dirty look – before she hurriedly picked up her clothes and hurried out of the bedroom, the apartment door being slammed close moments later, Haruka raising an eyebrow as she wondered if Megumi had just run out of the apartment naked and would get dressed on the hallway now.

For a moment, she felt tempted to follow her, just to see what she was doing out there with her clothes in her arms now; then, she decided against it, figuring that she might end up having a shoe thrown after her if she should show her face to the upset girl now.

_Good thing I wasn't planning to call her anyway, _Haruka mused as she sat up in the bed and ran both hands through her hair, grimacing at the many knots she encountered, a sign for how much she had tossed and turned during the nightmare. _No surprise Megumi woke up, and me calling out for Michiru probably didn't help, either. _

Shaking her head to herself, she asked herself why she would end up screaming this girl's name, considering the not unimportant fact she only had seen her once, and that meeting hadn't exactly ended well; then, she pushed those thoughts and the dreams aside as she always did, her thoughts dwelling on Megumi for a few more moments as she laid back down – until she drifted off to dreamland, slumbering soundly for the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

After sleeping in, Haruka took her time in the next day, knowing that she only had an interview appointment at two in the afternoon; she wasn't all too keen on giving interviews, since the journalists always seemed to care more about her personal life than about her racing career, but knew that they were a necessary evil and thus put up with them, even though she sometimes felt like strangling her manager when he swamped her schedule with such unpleasant appointments.

"At least it's a sports magazine and no stupid tabloid", she muttered to herself while she prepared the coffee machine, yawning heartily to herself afterwards; the last time her manager had scheduled an interview, it had been with a dreaded rainbow press magazine, and the reporter had asked her questions which nearly had made her deck him in the face, something she had suppressed the last moment, knowing what would happen if she really punched out a journalist.

Even though it would be tempting to do so, just once, when they asked her annoying questions again, she forced herself not to consider this, not wanting her manager to suffer from an instant apoplexy the moment he'd hear of this; the coffee machine falling silent distracted her from those ponderings, and she quickly fixed herself a cup the way she liked it, going through the morning paper while she slowly sipped it, only to nearly choke when she turned the page and found herself looking at Michiru's face, the aqua haired girl smiling into the camera, with an orchestra in the background, the blonde needing a moment to notice the violin Michiru was holding in one hand.

**Michiru Kaioh stuns her audience once again**, the headline informed her, and even though classical concerts usually weren't of much interest to her, despite the piano lessons she had taken when she'd been younger, she couldn't help herself, but just had to read the article, not surprised when it praised the aqua haired girl's performance most profusely, calling her a "violin prodigy" and "Japan's next violin sensation".

"Wonder if they'd still be so impressed by her if I told them about the creepy stuff she said to me", Haruka pondered out loud, her eyes drawn to the picture again even though she didn't really want to take another look at it, now remembering again all the weird stuff Michiru had said to her; and as she sat there and studied the smaller woman's face, she had to admit that the violinist was exceptionally beautiful, smirking to herself as she realized that she'd totally take her home if she hadn't said all those odd things to her.

Finally, she managed to tear her gaze away from the photo and turned the page, before she could end up staring at the aqua haired girl's picture again; she quickly read through the rest of the paper as she finished her coffee, then made her way into the bathroom to go through her morning hygiene, once more pushing all thoughts of Michiru out of her mind.

Instead of pondering the violinist, she remembered the unpleasant incident with Megumi; for a minute or two, she asked herself if the girl would end up telling her friends about what had happened, then figured that, even if she did, it wouldn't matter – her words had shown that by now, she had a certain image in the bar she frequented so often, with her friends warning Megumi from going home with her, but this hadn't stopped the girl from doing just that anyway.

Smirking to herself, she thought of the pleasant time she had spent with Megumi before the whole mess with her nightmare and her calling out for Michiru; it had been obvious that the other girl had known what she had been doing, and that she was enjoying the things Haruka had been doing to her, both of them having more than a nice time before it all had gone to Hell thanks to her annoying dreams.

Briefly, she asked herself if there was anything she could do about them, images of doctors and sleeping pills flickering through her mind while she brushed her teeth; then, she decided against it, not wanting to risk that the pills might affect her abilities to drive negatively, and she didn't even want to imagine what might happen if the press somehow should hear of her taking any kind of medication. Technically, doctors weren't supposed to give any information about their patients to anyone, but by now, Haruka knew enough about the various rainbow press reporters to know that they had no scruples, and for the right amount, she feared that any doctor might spill her secrets, something she didn't want to happen anytime soon.

Thus, she shrugged those thoughts off, telling herself that surely, the nightmares would end soon; and with that thought in mind, she finished her morning hygiene and made her way to the bedroom to get dressed, already thinking about the interview and pondering what questions the reporter might ask her.

* * *

To her great relief, the interviewer didn't bother her with any questions about her private life, but focused on her career and her racing style instead; thanks to that considerate behaviour, the interview was quite pleasant for her, and she was smiling to herself as she walked out of the café where they had met, even whistling to herself while she made her way to where she had parked her car, only to have the tune die on her lips when she saw who stood next to it, studying the vehicle intently and with great interest.

"Hey!" Haruka snapped, perhaps sharper than she had intended to, but not really caring, her anger growing when Michiru turned and looked at her, with an expression of pure innocence on her face; she even had the nerve to smile slightly at her, her voice calm and pleasant when she greeted her, as if she just hadn't practically ambushed her right next to her car. "Hello, Haruka-san. Nice car."

"What the Hell do you think you are doing", Haruka snapped in reply, not even bothering with trying to be polite; to her annoyance, Michiru only raised an eyebrow at her, still sounding infuriatingly polite when she replied. "Do you react like this every time someone compliments your car?"

"Are you stalking me?" the taller woman demanded to know as an answer, giving the aqua haired girl her best death glare; unimpressed, Michiru shook her head, a hint of mischief now sparkling in her eyes as she took a step closer to the blonde.

"No", she told her, looking up at her and holding her gaze even though Haruka still was giving her best to kill her with mere looks, "but your car is hard to miss. We didn't get to finish our talk the last time we met."

"There's nothing to talk about", Haruka told her at once, not willing to listen to all this crazy talk about her dreams and whatnot again, "I don't know what's wrong with your pretty little head, and frankly, I don't care, but I'm not wasting my time on your ramblings. Stay away from me."

And with those words, she almost turned and walked off – until she remembered that Michiru was standing next to her car and that she had to move past her if she didn't want to storm off and leave the vehicle behind, holding back an annoyed groan as this meant that she had to move past the aqua haired girl, suddenly wondering what the smaller woman might do the moment she'd be close enough to touch her.

Then, she told herself not to be stupid – she knew how to fight, and not just the nice and clean martial art style either, but her own variant of street fighting, with fast and dirty hits, landed to take down the opponent quickly and to make sure they'd stay down, at least long enough for her to get away. With that thought in mind, she moved closer to her car, her gaze never leaving Michiru's – and the moment she was close enough, the aqua haired girl did reach out and grabbed her, her fingers closing around the blonde's forearm with surprising strength.

Haruka still had time to narrow her eyes, her free hand clenching into a fist – before something which felt like an invisible sledgehammer seemed to hit her from within her own brain, right between her eyes, fireworks briefly exploding in front of her vision before the world went white and all was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

_She had no idea where she was, even though this time, the darkness wasn't surrounding her the way it did in her dreams; instead, she was standing in what appeared to be some sort of throne room, her gaze focused on the blonde sitting on the name-giving throne standing against the opposite wall, the kind blue eyes holding her gaze as the blonde asked for any news._

"_None", she told her, satisfied even though she wasn't sure why, "the latest threats have been successfully vanquished by Neptune and me."_

_The blonde smiled and nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but before the words could reach her ears, the white was back, and blinding pain flashed up in her head, and she screamed, feeling_

feeling how blood gushed from her nose as Michiru let go of her, the pain still raging through her brain, so intense and unexpected that she staggered and nearly fell, only the aqua haired girl's hands stopping her from doing so by grasping her again, at the upper arms this time, keeping her standing.

"Oh my God", she heard Michiru, the other girl sounding surprisingly freaked out, considering she most likely was the one to blame for this, "Haruka-san, I'm so sorry, I didn't think you'd react so strongly…!"

"What the Hell did you just do to me", Haruka finally regained her ability to speak, straightening up and forcing Michiru to let go of her, another glare following at once, "what the fuck was that!"

For a moment, the smaller girl seemed stunned into silence by the clearly unexpected dirty language; then, her expression grew serious as she shrugged it off, her gaze filled with surprising concern when she looked up at the blonde.

"I'm sorry", she let Haruka know, "I truly am. I wasn't told you might react like this, if I'd known…"

"Told?" Haruka demanded to know, giving her yet another glare, "told by whom? What the Hell are you talking about? No, wait, don't tell me, I'm not interested, keep your crazy crap to yourself!"

Angrily, she wiped the blood off her upper lip, momentarily concerned when she noticed it was still seeping from her nostrils; the initial speed of the flow had slowed down, but the fact that she was still bleeding was upsetting, anyway, and she asked herself what she would do if it wouldn't stop any time soon.

"Here", Michiru mumbled, surprising her slightly by holding a hanky out to her; for a second, she considered not taking it, not sure if she wanted anything from this strange girl, then she accepted it and pressed it to her nostrils, the blood quickly forming red blooms on the white fabric.

"I'm sorry", the aqua haired girl repeated as Haruka remained where she was, contemplating again if she should get into her car and just drive off, "really, I mean it… but I was told I had to do this, so you'd be prepared, you'll have—"

"Shut up", the blonde interrupted her harshly, the glare back with full force, "I told you, I don't want to hear this. I don't know what drugs you are taking, but you should lay off them. Now get away from my car."

"Haruka-san, please!" Michiru surprised her with a sudden outburst, reaching out to grab her arm again, only to have the blonde jerk away from her before she could do so, "you have to listen to me!"

"I don't think so", the blonde gave back, sending another glare her way as she finally had enough and, throwing any risks about strange seizures happening to her aside by pushing past her to the driver side door, "I make it a point not to listen to crazy people."

To her relief, Michiru didn't try to stop her again, but only looked at her, with a strange sadness in her eyes which, for some strange reason, chilled her to the core; giving her best to ignore that feeling though, she got into the vehicle and started the engine, making sure that she wouldn't look at the aqua haired girl again.

"You can't run from this forever, Haruka-san", Michiru told her just as she started to push down the gas pedal, "and deep inside, you know that."

Not even wanting to dignify this with a reply, the blonde just kept staring straight ahead and increased the pressure on the pedal; the car sped off moments later, leaving Michiru standing on the sidewalk, her gaze fixed on the car's backlights as Haruka drove off, once again pushing the strange encounter out of her mind as fast as she could.

* * *

"Yo Tenoh-san!" a jolly voice greeted her the moment she parked her car at the racetrack and got out of the vehicle, feeling the need to drive some fast rounds after yet another encounter with that strange Kaioh woman, "how it'd go with Kaioh-san?"

For a moment, Haruka froze, asking herself how the mechanic calling out to her could know that she just had met the aqua haired girl; then, she realized that he was talking about the encounter of the previous day and just shrugged, giving her best to sound indifferent when she replied, briefly amazed about how the race track mechanics gossiped worse than a bunch of bored church ladies. "Not much to tell, it didn't last long. We just talked a bit."

"Aw man", the mechanic groaned in reply, rolling his eyes theatrically, "what's wrong with you? A girl as hot as Michiru comes to talk to you and you don't take the chance to tap that?"

"I guess it just wasn't meant to be", Haruka replied, hoping that he'd just accept that and not bug her about the encounter any longer; to her relief, he just rolled his eyes again and shook his head, then went back to work, the upper half of his body vanishing beneath the open hood of the car he'd been tinkering with when the blonde had arrived.

"Haruka-san!" another voice now called out to her, one she quickly recognized, since it belonged to Yakimura, the owner and jack of all trades of the garage, a happy smile on his round face as he jogged up to her, his not inconsiderable gut bouncing with each step he was taking.

"Don't run like that or you'll have a heart attack", Haruka teased at once, smirking when he let out an audible huff; he ran one hand over the bald top of his head, making sure to keep his fingers away from the carefully combed hair he still had left so not to mess it up while he gave her a mock glare, causing her smirk to turn into an innocent smile.

"You're the only one who can say that to me", he then let her know, crossing his arms over his chest, "well, you and my wife. Any special reason you're here?"

"I wanted to hear you compare me to your wife", the blonde immediately took the chance given for another tease, the chubby man rolling his eyes again in reply; she chuckled for a moment, then told him that, no, there was no specific reason, she just had the afternoon off after the interview and had wanted to see how things were going.

"Oh, and let me guess, now that you are already here, you also wouldn't mind driving a round or two, right?" Yakimura wanted to know, an amused twinkle in his dark eyes; putting on the most innocent look she managed, Haruka gave her best to sound just as innocent as she was appearing when she replied, her words making the smaller man chuckle throatily. "Well, if you have a car ready I could drive, I surely wouldn't mind, you know, test driving and all…"

"Test driving", Yakimura echoed, "of course, how kind of you, the big racing star, to offer your precious time for this. Come on then, I got just the right thing for you."

"You, my friend, are awesome", Haruka let the elder man know in reply, making him chuckle yet again; he just smirked at her, then led her towards one of the few cars no one was working on at the moment, an excited gleam entering her eyes when she recognized the model and immediately knew how much power it was hiding beneath the hood, all thoughts about the Kaioh woman and her strange words forgotten the moment she slid into the driver's seat and her fingers wrapped around the smooth, cool leather of the steering wheel, the sense that this was where she belonged filling her heart and mind, forcing everything else aside.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I know I was asked for longer chapters, and I apologize for this one being quite short again :/ to make up for it, a semi-early update! hehe... I promise that quite a few chapters in the future will be longer. ;)

* * *

As always when she drove, Haruka lost track of time, only the road ahead of her and her complete control of the car mattering; and thus, it was no big surprise to her that most of the mechanics had gone home by the time she finally drove the car off the race track and back into the garage, the young man bent over yet another vehicle, apparently not noticing or caring that he was all alone by now, not even looking up when Haruka walked past him and mumbled a greeting at his back.

Ignoring his rather impolite behaviour, the racer figured that he was too immersed in his work to notice her; and thus, she just walked past him to the locker room the garage had put up specially for her in a former janitor's closet, something she didn't really mind though, only annoyed by the cramped space every now and then, eager to get into the fresh set of clothing she kept stored there – driving was relaxing for her, but keeping a car under control at two hundred and more miles per hour put a strain on her body anyway, and she sweated accordingly, not wanting to drive her own car in sweaty clothes.

Whistling under her breath, she found a fresh t-shirt and a pair of jeans; she briefly glanced at the door to make sure it was properly closed, not wanting to end up standing in her underwear right in line of sight of the only mechanic still left, then she pulled off her sweaty clothes and tossed them into her sports bag, quickly changing into her fresh ones. For a moment, she asked herself how smart that was, pulling on fresh clothing when her body was just as sweaty as her previous clothes had been; then, she shrugged that thought off, telling herself that it didn't matter, since she'd only drive home and could take a shower there.

Changing her whistling to humming, she glanced at the door once more, then pulled on the fresh clothes; she grimaced as they stuck to her body, again realizing that this maybe hadn't been the smartest thing to do while she put her shoes back on, then zipped up her sports bag, hiding the dirty clothes from the world. Grimacing to herself, she tucked at her shirt, trying to keep it away from her sweaty skin; it wasn't the first time that she left the race track like this, but still it bothered her more this day than usual, and she couldn't help herself, but just had to ask herself why.

"Seems like that encounter with the Kaioh woman shook me up more than I thought", she grumbled to herself, then fell silent as she realized what she was doing, rolling her eyes to herself in annoyance a moment later.

_And now I'm talking to myself, too, _she thought to herself, consciously not saying this out loud, _great, just great. If this girl pops up once more, I'm going to report her to the police or something. _

She shook her head to herself, then reached for the sports bag; and the moment her fingers closed around the fabric, the white flash she had experienced earlier that day, when Michiru had touched her, flared up behind her eyes again, a hoarse gurgle coming from her as she slumped down to her knees, her eyes rolling back into her head as the world around her vanished once more.

"_You really gotta be more careful", she told the brunette on the ground, earning a low grunt and a huff in reply before she struggled to her feet again, glaring up at her – even though the brunette girl was quite tall, she still was taller, and also faster and stronger, as she just had proven once again._

"_You left your right side wide open, Jupiter", she added, shaking her head_ _and wiping sweat off her brow before she went on – she was faster and stronger, but Jupiter still hadn't been easy to beat._

"_Be glad I wasn't holding a sword or a spear", she told her, "or you'd be dead now."_

"…_I know", Jupiter grudgingly admitted after a moment, a small sigh following her words, "I thought I'd gotten so much better since our last session…"_

"_Oh, you did", she reassured her, "no worries there, but you still need to mind your defence, never forget that. It's really important that you—"_

"_Haruka!" a pleasant, very familiar and very welcome voice interrupted her, and she turned to look at the newcomer, a smile automatically curling her lips before she_

opened her eyes and let out a low noise of protest as she felt someone lightly slap her cheeks, not hard enough to hurt, but still with enough force to apparently tear her out of whatever this strange vision just had been.

"Haruka-san!" the young mechanic called out again, finally stopping to slap her now that her eyes had returned to a more natural position and she was looking at him, albeit a bit dazed, "are you alright? What happened?"

"Not so sure about that", Haruka mumbled, sitting up with his help, touched by the concern in his dark eyes, "what are you doing in here…?"

"I was just about to leave", the mechanic started rambling in reply, giving her yet another concerned look, "but then I heard this weird thump from your dressing room here and I thought you maybe dropped something, and still wanted to leave, but then I heard those odd gurgling sounds and I thought you maybe hit your head so I went to see if you're okay and you were on the ground, kinda, I dunno, convulsing I guess… I didn't know what to do, so I just tried to make you snap out of it…"

"Well, it worked", Haruka had to admit in reply, "and thanks for checking on me… But not a word of this to anyone, alright? The last thing I need is the tabloids claiming that I have epilepsy or something."

"You have epilepsy?" the mechanic cried out as an answer, his eyes going so wide that for a moment, the blonde feared they might fall out; then, she shook her head, eager to calm him down, giving her best to sound sincere when she replied. "No, I don't have epilepsy, that was just the first outlandish thing I could think off. I guess I'm just… overworked, or something."

"Okay", the mechanic replied, still sounding doubtful though, clearly having images of the blonde suffering through an epileptic seizure during a race bouncing around in his mind; Haruka gave him a hopefully calming smile, then came to her feet again, glad when she had no trouble with doing so, even though she could feel that her nose was bleeding again, something the mechanic seemed to notice now as well, since he wordlessly held a hanky out to her.

"Thanks", she muttered, accepting the hanky and holding it to her nose; he just nodded, then reassured her that he wouldn't tell anyone what had happened before he, slightly awkward now, let her know that he'd go home now.

"You do that", Haruka gave back, "I'm gonna head home too, I guess I need some rest now…"

"Be careful", the mechanic told her, fresh concern in his eyes and voice again now, "um, but, what if something like that happens again while you drive home? Maybe you should call a taxi, or, well, if you'd like to, I can give you a ride…"

At the last few words, he blushed so brightly that now, instead of fearing his eyes might fall out, Haruka worried that it'd be his turn for a nosebleed; she couldn't deny that this was very thoughtful of him though, and even though her first impulse was to tell him that she was fine and could drive home on her own, she had to admit that he had made a good point, not even wanting to imagine what might happen, should she suffer through one of those seizures or whatever it had been while behind the steering wheel of her car.

"Yeah, that'd be nice", she thus said, making him smile surprisingly wide; he nodded, then moved past her to pick up her bag before she could do so herself and asked her to follow him, a noticeable spring in his step, the blonde smirking to herself as she moved along behind him, amused by how happy he seemed about the possibility to give her a ride home, once more glad that she always had made sure to be nice to all the mechanics – before her thoughts returned to what had happened just minutes ago, and her smile was replaced by a frown as she asked herself what these strange images had meant and if Michiru Kaioh was somehow responsible for them.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the mechanic had dropped her off at her apartment building, Haruka made her way up to her place, taking the time to toss her sweaty clothing into the laundry basket and to have a shower before she made her way to the living room and dropped down on the couch, a heavy, dismayed sigh escaping her as she thought of the strange vision she'd suffered through earlier that day.

"I was really lucky I didn't have that in the car", she mumbled to herself, shaking her head, now not caring anymore that she was talking to herself, "I would have crashed for sure then…"

She grumbled to herself as she thought of Michiru Kaioh and of the fact that she'd had the first of those weird seizures after the aqua haired girl had grabbed her; curiously, she rolled up her sleeve and intently studied her arm where Michiru had taken hold of her, trying to find out if she had been punctured with some sort of needle and had had a drug injected into her system which was responsible for the seizures, dismayed when she couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

For a moment, she wondered if she should go see her doctor, then realized that this might be a bad idea – if she told him she was afraid that she might have been given drugs, word surely would end up with her manager, despite doctor's confidentiality and all those similar, nicely sounding words, and she knew that there would be no racing for her until they'd be sure that she was squeaky clean.

"Stupid Kaioh girl and her stupid… behaviour", Haruka grumbled to herself, running a nervous hand through her hair – only now that she had time to think about it, she realized the gravity of the whole situation, the uncertainty of yet another sudden seizure dangling above her head like Damocles' sword, gruesome images of how she crashed her car during one of those and ended up crippled or dead, another groan coming from her as she asked herself how to handle this.

"I have to find that Kaioh girl", she decided after a moment, figuring that this was the only way to find out what had been done to her, even though she knew that most likely, she'd do just what Michiru wanted if she sought her out, "and make her stop this, she started it, so she must be able to put an end to it, as well."

She nodded to herself, deciding that this was the best thing she could do; then, she frowned to herself again as she pondered how to find Michiru, realizing she had no idea how to do this.

_Maybe my manager can help me with that, _she then realized, _he might have connections, you never know… I should call him and—_

As if her thoughts had summoned it, her phone started blaring in her pocket, making her jump; momentarily, her frown deepened as she asked herself who was calling at this hour, then realized there was only one way to find out and fumbled her phone out of her pocket, frowning again when she looked at the display and couldn't recognize the number.

"Tenoh?" she still took the call, only to flinch seconds later as her manager's voice blared into her ear, the unexpected loud volume of the elder man making her ears ring.

"Where are you!" he demanded to know, prompting her to frown as she tried to figure out why he wanted to know that, giving her best to sound innocent when she replied. "At home, why?"

"Why!" he nearly yelled, making her flinch while her mind started to race as she tried to remember any appointment she might have forgotten, "you should have been here an hour ago!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about", Haruka replied, even though she knew this would only agitate him more; he let out an unarticulated groan as an answer, and she could practically see how he slapped his forehead.

"The gala!" he then reminded her, and involuntarily, she let out a gasp, finally remembering what he was talking about.

"I totally forgot", she apologized, momentarily nursing the hope that this would mean she'd be able to avoid that particular appointment, "I didn't write it down, so… Sorry…"

"Don't apologize", her agent told her, "get ready instead and come here! You know this is important, there are so many potential sponsors here, but they won't agree to anything if you aren't around to show what a pleasant person you are."

"I know", Haruka grumbled, not all too happy about this – if there was one thing she hated more than posing for photos, it was standing around at such galas and other, similar events of the so-called high society, forced to make mindless small talk with more or less rich men and women who had shown interest in her racing career and were willing to support her with their money, something she knew she needed if she wanted to keep playing in the higher leagues.

"I'll be there as fast as I can", she thus promised, "keep them busy, alright?"

"Sure", the agent let her know with a long-suffering sigh, "but don't race here now, the last thing we need now is that you crash on the way here."

"Aw, come on", the blonde protested at once, "you know me better than that. As if I'd ever crash."

"Just get here", the elder man grumbled, and she reassured him once more that she'd hurry; then, she ended the call and tossed her phone on the couch with a low groan, not feeling like going there at all, but knowing that she didn't have much of a choice.

She glared at the phone as if it was to blame for her predicament, then finally got up from her seat and made her way into her bedroom; there, she pulled out the first tux she spotted in her wardrobe – not that there were so many of them, with the blonde preferring more casual clothing whenever she didn't need to dress up for an occasion like the gala -, placing the black suit on the bed so it wouldn't get wrinkled before she found a fitting white button-up shirt, quickly pulling it on.

The suit was put on just as quickly next, and after a critical look into the mirror, Haruka nodded to herself, satisfied with how she looked in the dark clothing; briefly, she smirked to herself as she wondered if she'd make yet another conquest later that night, then remembered how the last one had ended and held back a groan, shaking her head in dismay at the unpleasant memory.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she made her way into the small anteroom of her apartment, quickly pulling on black leather shoes there to complete her outfit; and then, just as she reached for the small bowl where she normally kept her car keys, she remembered with a groan that her car still stood at the garage, a low groan escaping her at the realization that she had to call a taxi now, not liking the thought of arriving at the blasted gala in a car which wasn't her own.

Still, she knew that she didn't have much of a choice, and thus returned to the living room to get her phone; it took her a moment to remember a phone number for one of the many taxi companies of Tokyo, the lady who took her call reassuring her that the car would be at her home in five minutes, the blonde grumbling to herself as she hurried downstairs, already looking forward to coming back home after her obligations for the evening had been completed to her agent's satisfaction.

* * *

"So nice to meet you, Tenoh-san", the female half of the first couple her agent had introduced her to trilled, beaming at the blonde; Haruka politely smiled back, then the much older husband of the enthusiastic woman spoke up, sounding quite happy as well, even though he had much better self-control than the woman who obviously was some sort of trophy wife.

"I'm very pleased you made it to our gala, Tenoh-san", he told her, prompting her to politely thank him for the invitation and to apologize for being late; he told her not to mention it, then tried to impress her by asking her which fuel injection systems she preferred, forcing her to bite her tongue so she wouldn't laugh in his face, well aware of the fact that he didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about.

For a moment, she was tempted to give him a nonsensical answer, just to see how little he really knew; then, she remembered that her agent was standing right next to her and that he'd get annoyed if she'd do that, and thus answered him honestly and properly, forced to hold back a smirk when he nodded wisely, as if he had a clue what she was talking about. They talked for a bit longer, with the elder man giving his best to sound as if he had an idea about racing cars and their parts; and while he did so, his wife kept batting her eyelashes at Haruka, the blonde pointedly ignoring this though, not wanting to risk the wrath of a possible sponsor and her agent by flirting back.

Finally, the couple let her know that now, they had to look after their other guests, too, and excused themselves after she had reassured them that it was fine, her agent giving her a happy smile the moment they were out of earshot.

"That went well", he told her, patting her shoulder with another bright and happy smile, showing off his perfectly white teeth, "I'm sure he'll call me next week to talk sponsorship. Good job, Haruka-san!"

"Thanks", Haruka dryly gave back, knowing that he was well aware of how much she despised those social events; he beamed at her again, then told her to go and mingle now, just to make sure that she was seen by the other guests, the blonde holding back another annoyed sigh as she nodded.

"I'll see you later", her agent let her know, "and make sure to stay away from all the trophy wives, we don't need a rainbow press scandal."

"Yeah, I know", the racer sighed; her agent gave her yet another smile, then wandered off, the blonde looking after him for a moment before she turned and started moving through the crowd, snatching a glass of champagne from the tray of the nearest waiter, taking a sip from it as she nodded at the few people she knew from other, similar gatherings.

"Tenoh-san!" one of them called out to her, gesturing at her to join his friends and him; just as she started to move into his direction though, a flash of familiar aqua coloured hair in the corner of her eye caught her attention, her breath hitching in her throat as she turned her head for a closer look, not sure if she should feel angry or surprised when her gaze met Michiru Kaioh's seconds later.

Her steps faltered, just enough to obviously let the smaller woman notice, since she smiled slightly; for a moment, Haruka was tempted to ignore her, then remembered what had happened at the racetrack a few hours ago and steeled herself, shooting the man who had called out to her an apologetic look before she moved over to the aqua haired woman, grumbling lowly to herself when Michiru started to walk as well, away from the crowd and to the stairway leading up to the first floor of the building, one of the few places where no other people were standing and talking.

Glancing back at her to make sure she was following her, Michiru moved up the stairs, stopping on the first landing, in front of an impressively big painted picture, Haruka feeling as if someone had punched her in the gut when she took a closer look at it – it depicted the darkness and chaos she had been dreaming of so often during the last nights, as if someone had taken a look right into her nightmares and had painted what they had seen there.

"Familiar, isn't it", Michiru's pleasant voice reached her ears, tearing her out of her shock; she looked at the smaller woman, not sure what she should reply, finally saying the first thing which came to her still stunned mind. "Are you stalking me? What are you doing here?"

"I'm not stalking you", the aqua haired girl replied, rolling her eyes, "will you stop accusing me of this? I was invited, just as you were."

"Right", Haruka had to realize, remembering the article she had read about the smaller woman, figuring that it'd make sense that she had been invited as well; for a few moments, the two just stood there, looking at each other, and once more, the blonde had to admit that, despite how weird and annoying she seemed, Michiru was exceptionally beautiful, the dress she had chosen for the occasion only underlining her beauty, hugging her curves and giving anyone who looked at her an idea of the body beneath it.

"So?" Michiru now distracted her from her observations, gesturing at the painting, "as I said, familiar, isn't it?"

"You better undo what you did to me when you grabbed me", Haruka almost snapped at her in reply, crossing her arms over her chest as she remembered once again what had happened at the racetrack, "because I've had another one of those seizures, or whatever it was, and I can't afford to be endangered by that. I am a racer, you know. The last thing I need is some sort of seizure during a race."

"I'm afraid I can't help you with that", Michiru gave back, holding her gaze even when it darkened with anger at her words, "I was… permitted to help the process along, but it's out of our control now. Just so you know, you would have started having flashbacks even without our intervention, but we had to bring them to the surface quickly, because there's not much time."

"…I have not the slightest clue what the Hell you are talking about", Haruka let her know after just blinking at her for a few moments, "but, you know, you're not really making the image of a crazy girl you have since our first meeting any better."

"I painted this, you know", Michiru told her as an answer, gesturing at the painting, briefly making the blonde raise an eyebrow as she wondered why the aqua haired girl simply ignored her words, "so, as you can see, you're not the only one having those dreams."

She took a step closer to Haruka, forcing the blonde to use almost all her willpower so she'd remain where she was and wouldn't move back from her; looking up at her, Michiru made sure to hold her gaze as she reached out and briefly touched her hand, to the taller woman's relief this time not causing any weird visions with her touch.

"I know it's scary", she told her in a low voice, the people and the din around them vanishing as they fully focused on each other, "but you can't run from this, Haruka-san, trust me, I know. Do you think I didn't try? I didn't want this either."

"I still have no idea what you are talking about", Haruka pointed out as an answer; Michiru looked around again in reply, then back up at the blonde, her voice sincere, but kind when she replied. "I'll gladly tell you, but not here. We should go to a more private place."

Her gaze was so hopeful and happy that for a moment, Haruka felt tempted to say Yes, just so she wouldn't disappoint this beautiful, mysterious and maybe slightly crazy girl; then, she told herself that this was stupid, that she couldn't let this weird girl rope her into whatever weird delusion she was suffering of, and she shook her head, even though her heart strangely enough clenched up when she saw Michiru's face fall.

"I don't want to know", she still told her, ignoring the pang in her chest, telling herself that she didn't need to feel bad, that she didn't know this girl and didn't need to be bothered about disappointing her, "and I don't want to have anything to do with whatever crap you're talking about. Stay away from me."

And with those words, she turned and made her way down the stairs again; she could feel Michiru's gaze burn on her back, and it cost almost all of her willpower to not look back, but finally, she reached the bottom of the stairs and made sure to mingle with the crowd so the aqua haired girl would lose sight of her, for the rest of the evening unable to forget the disappointed, saddened expression in the smaller woman's eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

When the taxi dropped her off at her apartment building, Haruka for some reason almost expected Michiru to stand in front of it, or maybe right in front of her apartment door; to her relief, the aqua haired girl was nowhere to be seen, apparently having gone home right after their little talk on the stairs, since she hadn't seen her anymore afterwards at the party, either.

"Not that I minded much", she muttered to herself as she stepped into the elevator and leaned against the wall, feeling tired and by now quite annoyed by the tux she still was wearing; she couldn't wait to get out of it and into her much more comfortable pyjama, eager to get some well-deserved sleep after hours of small talk and being nice to possible sponsors.

With a huge yawn, she stepped out of the elevator once it had reached her floor and made her way to her apartment door; to her relief, Michiru was nowhere to be seen there, either, and she let out another yawn as she unlocked the door and entered, kicking off her shoes and taking off her jacket the moment the door had fallen close behind her again. For a moment, she leaned against the wood and closed her eyes, once again finding herself unable to stop thinking about the way Michiru had looked at her when she had declined going to a more secluded place with her; she shook her head lightly to clear it, then finally made her way into the bedroom, taking off the pants and the shirt there and changing into her comfy blue pyjama.

Without even bothering to brush her hair or her teeth before going to sleep, she just let herself drop down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling for a while; again, she caught herself thinking about the way Michiru had looked at her and groaned to herself, asking herself why this was bothering her so much, telling herself yet again that there was no reason to be affected in any way by this, that she didn't know this girl at all and that she didn't need to feel bad for not letting herself get roped in by all this crazy talk.

"Let's hope she got the hint now and stays away from me", she mumbled to herself, finally pulling the covers over herself and closing her eyes; and just a few minutes later, she was fast asleep, her last thought before she drifted off into dreamland once again being Michiru's hurt, disappointed eyes…

…_eyes which were holding her gaze as they stood in the ruins of a town which might have been Tokyo before all this destruction had set in; in the distance, they could hear people scream and cry and plead for help, but the dark smoke all around them kept from seeing anything of what was done to them, and for a moment, Haruka felt thankful for this, having the distinct feeling that this was her fault._

"_It is", Michiru told her, using the strange logic of dreams to know what she was thinking, "I told you that you can't run from this, but you did, and now the world is ending… Where will you run now, Sailor Uranus?"_

"_That's not my name", she told her in reply, "you know that."_

"_It's who you are", Michiru argues back at once, "but this is how the world will end if you don't accept this soon. The world needs you to fight for it or this is how it will end, and where will you run then, huh? Answer me!"_

_The last two words were yelled with surprising anger, prompting Haruka to take a step back; and while she still racked her brain for an answer, _something _loomed up in the darkness behind Michiru and then sharp claws were poking out of her chest, rammed all the way through her body from behind, her eyes widening while a chocked whimper came from her._

"_No!" Haruka heard herself yell, taking a step closer again; the creature behind the aqua haired girl pulled back, and Michiru collapsed, right into the blonde's arms, her blood trickling over her arms and hands as she held her close. Gasping, Michiru grabbed at her with both hands, momentarily making her realize that she was in the tux again she had worn at the gala; and then, the smaller woman opened her mouth as if to say something, only to cough up a shockingly large mass of blood, her eyes rolling back into her head as she died and even though she didn't know why, it broke Haruka's heart and she tightened her grip on the now dead girl as she screamed and screamed and screamed…_

…and her own screams woke her up, sounding awfully loud in the quiet bedroom, her heart racing in her chest as she sat up in the tangled covers, her eyes wide in the darkness.

"Oh God", she breathed after a few moments, her voice even hoarser than usual thanks to all the yelling she had done in her sleep; she stared down on her hands, for a second almost expecting them to be covered in blood, immense relief filling her when she saw that they were clean. Letting out another shaky breath, she ran one hand down her face, and then, there was blood on her fingers; her eyes widened, and she quickly switched on the small lamp on the nightstand, shocked to see the large bloodstain on the pillow and the trails of the red liquid on her pyjama, the blonde needing a moment to figure out what had happened, a groan escaping her when she realized that she'd had yet another nosebleed.

Quickly, she got out of bed, pressing one hand against her nostrils so she wouldn't end up bleeding all over the carpet; she made her way to the bathroom and bent over the sink there, watching how crimson droplets stained the white ceramic for a few seconds before she grabbed the nearest towel, soaked it in cold water and placed it in her neck, shuddering when the water ran down her back and caused goosebumps all over her body. Fighting back the impulse to lean her head back into her neck, Haruka remained bent over the sink, letting the water run so the blood wouldn't dry on the otherwise clean surface; then, she closed her eyes as the dream came back to her mind again, the image of Michiru dying in her arms sending a shiver through her body.

"Dammit", she whispered to herself, asking herself where that dream had come from and what it meant; the darkness and destruction and sounds of pain all around her had been just like in her previous ones, but she'd always been alone in them before, and never had met anyone else in the destroyed landscape, not sure why now, Michiru would pop up in her dreams all of a sudden, not liking the thought of the aqua haired girl shaking her up so much that she even followed her in her dreams.

At least, to her relief, the flow of blood from her nostrils slowed down now, then finally came to a stop; she remained bent over the sink a bit longer, just to make sure she wouldn't start bleeding again, then straightened up and made her way back into the bedroom, grimacing again at the sight of the bloodied pillow.

Grumbling to herself about how annoying this was, Haruka grabbed the offending item and tossed it on the floor, finding a clean pillow in one of the cupboards right afterwards; she took the time to fluff it a few times, since it had been flattened by the stack of clothing she had placed upon it, then laid down again and closed her eyes, sighing to herself as she wondered if she'd be plagued by nightmares again before she finally drifted off into sleep again, slumbering soundly until the next morning dawned.

* * *

"You look like shit", Yakimura greeted her early in the next morning, softening the harshness of his words with his concerned expression, "are you okay?"

"Yeah", Haruka let him know at once, deciding that it'd be too tiring to get offended at his choice of words, "just tired. Didn't sleep well."

"Better get some coffee then before you drive", Yakimura advised her, prompting her to roll her eyes as she felt annoyed by his fatherly behaviour, "the last thing we need now is that you crash your car. Even though, considering your latest… predicament, maybe you shouldn't drink any, caffeine might set it off."

"…what are you talking about?" Haruka wanted to know after a moment of being stunned into silence, and he rolled his eyes at her, clearly not buying her tries to make him believe that she didn't know.

"Please", he then said, giving her a strict look, "nothing on this racetrack happens without my knowledge."

"That mechanic told you", Haruka realized in reply, hot anger flaring up within her, only to cool down again at once when Yakimura placed a calming hand on her arm and told her that it wasn't his fault.

"I noticed that you left your car here over night", he then explained, "and that was such an out of character thing for you to do, so I started asking around if something happened, and he told me he drove you home. Of course I needed to know why, and after some prodding, he told me."

"So?" Haruka dared to ask after thinking about this for a moment, not sure she'd like the answer, "and what did you make of what he told you?"

"That you should see a doctor", Yakimura replied calmly, "and, to be fully honest with you, for a moment, it crossed my mind to keep you from driving until this has been fixed. I know you'd throw a fit then though, and it probably would end with you leaving the garage and the team so you could find a new one, and I'm not going to take that risk. Even though it means that I let you risk your life."

"You know me well", the blonde had to admit as an answer, making him smile slightly while he nodded; then, he took another step closer to her, the concern back in his eyes and voice when he asked her if there was any way she could tell that she was about to have one of those seizures, grimacing when she shook her head.

"But I only had one so far", she then lied, "maybe it was a one time thing, I was quite stressed lately, you know…"

"Let's hope so", Yakimura sighed, "because, even if I refuse to take any responsibility, I'll still feel bad if you'll end up crashing your car. You really should see a doctor as fast as possible, Haruka-san."

"I will", Haruka promised him at once, more than glad that he hadn't tried to keep her from driving; he smiled and nodded, then asked her if she wanted to test one of the cars with the new fuel injection system, smirking when she immediately nodded enthusiastically.

"Go and change then", he told her, "I'll have them drive the car to the track in the meantime. Meet you at the starting line."

Momentarily, Haruka wondered if he had forgotten about his suggestion that she should get some coffee, then shrugged it off and made her way to her tiny changing room; en route, she met the mechanic who had rattled her out to Yakimura, and he gave her such a guilty look that it was almost funny, looking immensely relieved when the blonde smiled reassuringly at him, showing him that she wasn't holding a grudge.

He grinned back at her happily, making her chuckle lowly to herself before she entered the dressing room; and there, she quickly changed into her racing suit, a noticeable spring in her step as she made her way to the track, already looking forward to the feel of the steering wheel in her hands and tons of metal all around her, racing along under her absolute control, something she never would grow tired off.

* * *

Thanks to her knowledge and experience with racing cars, Haruka immediately noticed the benefits of the new system, already when she was driving the first round; she made a mental note to tell Yakimura about how awesome it was, then focused on the track, not even noticing that she started to smile as she stepped down harder on the gas pedal, the car quickly picking up speed until the landscape became a mere blur around her.

Even though she wanted to get lost in driving again, as she did so often, she forced herself to keep her mind clear, remembering that Yakimura had asked her to only drive ten rounds for now, the elder man clearly still concerned about her having yet another seizure; and thus, she counted the laps in her head as she drove one after the other, enjoying it as long as it lasted, feeling slightly regretful when she finally finished the tenth round and slowed down, the car coming to a step a few moments later.

For a few more seconds, she remained in the seat, her hands resting on the steering wheel in a light, relaxed grip; then, she let out a slight sigh and unbuckled her seat belt, then got out of the vehicle, frowning when she realized that, even though she had finished a test drive under supervision, none of the mechanics was approaching the car, something which usually always happened after such a run.

She had a mere second to tell herself that they probably all were busy with something, and then the screams reached her ears, followed by the sight of the mechanics running from the garage building like headless chickens, some of them even flailing their arms for added effect as they tried to get away from… something as fast as they could, Haruka's heart suddenly hammering up to her throat with painful anticipation.

_Don't be stupid, _she told herself while she started moving towards the building, without even noticing fully what she was doing, _you can't know what the reason for this is, so don't tell yourself it's some sort of monster or whatever._

The monster came into the view the moment Haruka could see through the open garage door, the building by now empty since all the mechanics, and even Yakimura, had run off; it was some sort of thick, shockingly huge worm, with tentacles writhing and twisting all over the dark brown, glistening body, the blonde finding herself estimating the creature's length despite how horrified she was, her heart beating even faster when she realized that this thing was much, much taller than her.

Stopping dead in her tracks again, not sure what she should do now, Haruka kept staring at the worm-thing, in the back of her mind realizing how quiet it had become – clearly, all the mechanics had run off, without even bothering to make sure she was with them, and she had a moment to be angry at this negligence – before the worm's small, black and beady eyes focused on her, and some sort of horrible, sentient intelligence flared up in them, the creature letting out an awfully wet sounding gurgle and started slithering over the concrete floor, closer to her, the blonde finding herself frozen to the spot with shock, unable to do anything else but watch.

With another gurgle, the worm reared up, then the massive head shot down; and the sight of the unsettlingly large, sharp and pointy teeth got Haruka moving again at last, not fast enough though to avoid taking a hit, the thick head striking her side and sending her all the way to the wall to her right, a grunt escaping her when the concrete stopped her roughly. Slumping down to the ground, she just a moment to be dazed, then forced herself to roll over and come to her feet once more as the worm gurgled again; it glared at her, then moved in for yet another attack, Haruka reacting faster this time though and managing to get out of the way before it could hit her yet again, only to groan in dismay when she realized that now, thanks to her own manoeuvring, she had managed to put the worm between the exit and herself, effectively blocked by the large body from running outside and to safety.

For a second, she just wanted to freeze, to let the panic take over; then, she told herself that she was as good as dead if she did so, and snatched up the nearest tire iron instead, a dishearteningly small weapon, compared to the size of the warm, but still better than trying to go up against it empty handed.

"Come on", Haruka snarled at the worm, even though she wasn't sure it understood her, "bring it on then, you nasty, ugly—"

"_Deep Submerge!" _The brightly blue glowing ball of energy followed those loudly cried words, slamming right into the worm's midsection and making it cry out in pain; stunned, Haruka let the tire iron drop to the floor from suddenly numb fingers, her brain unable to comprehend the sight her eyes were presenting, her mouth moving soundlessly for a few moments before she finally brought out one word which said it all. "Michiru!?"


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: First off, apologies for the late update, I was planning to update yesterday, but hanging out with a friend got in the way…

Also, yup I know, Haruka's a jerk and too stubborn for her own good, but I promise she'll get better about this soon. Give her some more time, folks ;)

* * *

Michiru just gave her a brief look, then focused on the worm again, shifting into a fighter stance as the monster growled at her and started moving towards her, momentarily having lost interest in Haruka; not sure what to do now, the blonde just watched for a minute how Michiru moved away from the creature, then realized that the aqua haired girl was trying to increase the space between the worm and her, to give her room and thus a chance to escape.

"No way in Hell I'll just run away", she grumbled under her breath, picking the tire iron up again; still ignoring her, the worm was fully focused on Michiru still, slithering closer to her while it growled audibly, exposing long and sharp teeth, the unsettling scratchy noises its body made as it moved over the concrete floor causing Haruka's hair to stand on its ends.

With her grip on the tire iron tightening, she moved closer to the worm, ignoring the way Michiru's eyes went wide as the smaller girl realized what she was about to do; she still had time to call out "No!", then the blonde had swung her makeshift weapon and hit the worm in the back, the large creature twitching in dismay before the big head swung around and small, beady eyes glared at her.

Snarling at her, the worm moved closer to her again, with shocking speed, prompting her to take a step back; and then, the large head shot forward, the things mouth opening wide, and suddenly, Michiru was in front of her, tackling her and covering her, a pained cry escaping her when the teeth dug into her back and shoulder and upper arm.

With a low yelp of her own, the blonde ended up on the floor, surprised by how strong Michiru's tackle had been; and even though blood was dripping from the unsettlingly deep looking wounds, the aqua haired girl stood up straight again seconds later, glaring at the worm as she called out her attack once more, Haruka watching with fascination how a brightly glowing blue ball of energy formed around the smaller girl's hands, then was thrown at the worm, the creature shrieking in pain yet again when it was hit.

Without bothering to hold back or to show mercy, the aqua haired girl repeated the attack for yet another time; and apparently, third time had been the charm for this thing, since it let out another blood-curdling shriek – before it curled up on the ground and, to Haruka's endless shock and amazement, changed into the mechanic who had driven her home the day before, her eyes nearly falling out of her sockets as all she could do was stand there and stare at the unconscious man. Then, a low groan coming from Michiru distracted her from the mechanic, and she automatically glanced over at the other girl, just in time to see her stagger; and without even realizing what she was doing, she got moving, reaching her just in time to catch her and keep her from falling when her legs gave in beneath her.

"Careful there", she said the first thing which came to her mind, not caring if it was smart or not, lowering herself down on her knees with the wounded aqua haired girl still firmly in her grasp so she wouldn't end up on the dirty floor, "you're hurt…"

"You weren't supposed to recognize me", Michiru wheezed, looking up at her with her pain clearly showing through her, as Haruka fully noticed for the first time, stunningly blue eyes, "even though you're the other one, you weren't supposed to… Not in this form…"

"…okay", the blonde gave back, not even sure if she wanted to know what Michiru meant with her being "the other one"; before she could decide on if she should ask or not though, a strange glow from the right caught her eye, and she glanced over, raising an eyebrow at the quite unexpected sight now presented to her.

A few feet away, a vaguely pen-like, navy blue object hung in the air, rotating slowly, still surrounded by the warm glow which had gained her attention; and even though Haruka was sure she never had seen this thing before, something about it spoke to her, reaching the very core of her soul, the blonde not even noticing what she was doing when she started to reach for it.

"Wait!" Michiru's almost panicked voice tore her out of the trans-like state the strange object had put her in, and she flinched before her hand dropped again and her attention moved to the aqua haired girl once more, the questioning look on her face being enough to make her continue talking.

"If you take this, the life you've lived until now is over", the smaller woman told her, somehow struggling out of her hold and coming to her feet again, despite her wounds still bleeding – even though, to Haruka's amazement, the flow was lessening already, something she wouldn't have thought possible with such deep gashes, "this is what your dreams have been about, Haruka-san…"

"Isn't this the reason why you've been stalking me the last few days?" Haruka demanded to know in reply, now feeling irritated – at first this woman kept showing up everywhere she went, talking about her dreams and what not, and now she told her that whatever this thing was, she shouldn't touch it, even though she knew it was meant for her, the knowledge that it was hers just being there, from one moment to the next.

"I have not been stalking you", Michiru almost huffed, forcing the blonde to fight back a smirk, the aqua haired woman's expression turning serious again though moments later, her gaze softening as she kept holding the taller woman's.

"Yes", she confirmed, "this is what I wanted to talk to you about, and, as I said, the reason for your dreams."

"What do you want from me then?" Haruka nearly snapped, losing her patience with the strange girl once more, so irritated that she even forgot about the still unconscious mechanic lying on the ground a few feet away from her and about the fact that he'd been some sort of creepy worm monster not too long ago, "at first you hound me, and now, when this… this thing appears, apparently wanting me to take it for whatever reason, you tell me not to? Is this some sick game you're playing?"

"No", the aqua haired girl gave back at once, shaking her head so vehemently it made her hair bounce, "this is not a game, Haruka-san, this is… so much bigger. It's my destiny, and yours…"

"I don't understand you", Haruka told her, annoyed, "you keep beating around the bush! Just give me a clear answer for once, woman!"

"This", Michiru gave back, gesturing at herself, the blonde for a moment not knowing what she was talking about – until she remembered what Michiru had said about how she hadn't been supposed to recognize her in this strange uniform she was wearing, and figured it had something to do with it, "this is what I am, and what you are, too, Haruka. We're soldiers, warriors, born to fight. In this… form, for lack of a better word, I'm not Michiru Kaioh, I'm Sailor Neptune, and you are—"

"Sailor Uranus", Haruka interrupted her and finished for her with suddenly numb lips, her gaze moving to the strange blue pen again, thus missing the brief startled expression on Michiru's face.

"…yes", the smaller woman confirmed after a moment, giving her a curious look, "how did you…?"

"How did I know?" Haruka answered her question with another question, something Michiru clearly didn't like since her gaze darkened briefly, just long enough to let the blonde notice, but she decided it'd be wiser to ignore this, just speaking on before the aqua haired girl had the chance to say anything.

"The dreams", she clarified, "someone… don't ask me who… called me that in one of them. I told them it's not my name."

For a moment, she wondered if Michiru would see through her lie and call her on it, the nightmare still in front of her inner eye with painful clarity, how she had talked to the other girl and how she had been killed seconds later, had died in her arms; to her relief, the violinist clearly had no idea about the exact nature of her dream, since she just nodded, a small sigh escaping her afterwards.

"I'm torn", she then told her, making Haruka wonder why she'd tell her such a seemingly random thing, thankfully going on and explaining just that before the blonde had to ask. "Torn between letting you take this and letting you accept it, and keeping you from it… We're supposed to fight together, partners against the darkness we've both been dreaming of, but…"

"But if I take it, my life is over?" Haruka finished for her, giving her an uneasy glance, "how, over? Yours seems to be going pretty well."

"Of course", Michiru gave back at once, now sounding slightly indignant, until she apparently realized that Haruka was only quoting her own words back at her, "but, well, it all might be over in an instant. Do you think this is the first time I got injured during a battle? One day, I might end up crippled, or even killed, and that'd be the end of everything. And, no offense, but with the constant risk of being called somewhere to fight, taking people home for the night won't work out anymore, either."

"You _have_ been stalking me!" Haruka nearly exploded at her in reply, making her take a step back, "or else you wouldn't know that!"

"I was just keeping an eye on you", Michiru weakly tried to defend herself, realizing with her blood running cold that it this one thoughtless remark might make it all go to Hell, everything she had tried to make Haruka realize pushed aside by that little comment, "to make sure nothing will happen to you until your calling… and would you stop focusing on that so much? There are bigger things at hand right now, you're looking at your destiny!"

With those words, she gestured at the oddly shaped blue pen again, making Haruka look at it as well – before she suddenly strode over to where it floated in mid-air and, to Michiru's endless shock, batted it aside, sending it all the way through the room before it hit the ground, now not able to float anymore after its potential owner had rejected it like that.

"I won't have any of this", Haruka told her briskly, giving her such a dark look that it nearly made her take a step back yet again, and the aqua haired girl could almost see how the denial slid back in place, putting up a firm wall between what the blonde knew what was true in her heart and the lies she wanted to keep on living, "stop hounding me with all this destiny bullshit and stay away from me."

"…fine", Michiru mumbled after a few moments had ticked by in uncomfortable silence, surprising the taller woman since this was the last thing she had been expecting to her – and the sudden defeated look in the other woman's eyes had been the last thing she'd expected to see there, her heart clenching up at the sight, "if you really want it that way. Just so you know, I didn't want any of this, either, but it's not our choice, it never has been…"

She trailed off and just looked at Haruka, silently pleading her to change her mind, to accept what and who she was; for a few more seconds, the blonde kept holding her gaze, then mumbled "Whatever" under her breath – before she turned and walked off, the blue pen forgotten on the ground behind her, still feeling Michiru's defeated gaze on her back, but forcing herself to keep on walking, something which became easier with every step she took.


	11. Chapter 11

Once again she was driving, just to calm her nerves, not caring where she went; the road stretched endlessly ahead of her, and for a minute, Haruka was tempted to just go on and on, leave this town where a strange woman in an odd costume haunted her and tried to convince her that she was born to be some kind of warrior, by now convinced again that Michiru wouldn't keep her promise and would end up hounding her once more with her odd stories and her talk about dreams and destiny.

"Destiny", she grumbled to herself, the calmness she momentarily had achieved through driving flying out the window again, "yeah right, cause it's my destiny to run around in a short skirt, fighting ugly monsters by flinging balls of energy at them…"

She shook her head at those silly thoughts, not even wanting to imagine how she'd look in an outfit similar to Michiru's, with only the colours different, after all, her shoes and skirt would be blue and that ridiculous bow on the front would be bright yellow…

"Wait a goddamn minute", she interrupted her own train of thoughts, her eyes briefly widening, "what the Hell? There's no way I'd know what colours that stupid getup would have."

_Unless you've worn it before, _a very unwelcome voice whispered in the back of her mind, a shudder running up and down her spine in response; realizing that, even with her skill at driving, it was quite dangerous to drive on while strange thoughts and voices in her head were distracting her, she quickly pulled over and brought the car to a halt, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she breathed deeply, trying to keep memories of how she had worn this strange costume out of her mind.

"I don't know any about this", she whispered, momentarily glad that the road she had chosen was one which hardly ever was used by other drivers – the last thing she needed now was some other car coming by and perhaps stopping so the occupant could ask her if she was alright.

"I don't want to know any of this", she went on, not even sure whom she was talking to, but suddenly knowing that someone was listening, somehow, somewhere, "I've made a good life for myself! And I will not give that up to run around in a short skirt fighting—"

The vision hit her with so much intensity this time that her head got thrown back into her neck as she could feel blood spurt from her nose yet again, crazily thinking to herself that it couldn't be healthy to have nosebleeds with such alarming regularity – before the blinding white hit her between the eyes again, and once more, she was gone, caught in

_caught in some strange webby strings, vaguely reminding her of a spider's web, and just like such a web, the strings tightened more and more around her the more she struggled, but just holding still wasn't an option, she had to get out of this somehow, she knew that Neptune was somewhere in this blasted cave as well, probably hurt, needing her help. _

_Now she regretted not accepting Jupiter's offer to come along, insisting on going alone; she really had to learn to be less stubborn and to accept help from anyone who wasn't Neptune, but it was so hard for her, at first she had been alone for so long and then Neptune had come into her life and it just had been perfect, they had been like two halves of a whole, forming the perfect unit as they worked together, knowing how the other would react on all times and thus always acting accordingly, making them a deadly team on the battle field._

"_Dammit", she grumbled to herself, her muscles tightening and bulging as she fought to get free, and then, finally, the strings tore and she could move again and_

a gasp escaped her as she finally found herself back in her car, her heart racing in her chest, blood still dripping from her nose and staining her shirt, a groan coming from her as she realized how much her head hurt now.

"Whatever this is, it's getting more intense", she had to admit to herself, shocked at how weak and hoarse her voice sounded; she wanted to shake her head to clear it, but with the pounding in her brain, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, and thus, she forced herself to keep still, only moving one hand to grab a tissue from the car's glove department which she pressed to her nostrils, hoping this would help to stop the bleeding.

Sitting as still as possible, she gave her best to ignore the pounding in her head and the unpleasant feeling of her nosebleed; finally, the flow slowed down, then stopped completely, and she grimaced as she removed the tissue and saw that it had been soaked so much that it was almost completely red, just a few small spots of white left here and there.

Grumbling at the nasty thing, she chucked it out of the convertible, momentarily asking herself if this counted as littering when it landed on the road, then shrugging those thoughts off, realizing she had other things to worry about now – after all, what had started out as annoying, but painless nightmares by now had developed into full-blown visions, complete with seizures, nosebleeds and, as a new bonus, nasty headaches, and Haruka didn't even want to imagine how much worse this might get if she didn't do anything against it.

_I really need to see a doctor, _she had to admit to herself, even though she despised the mere thought, _Yakimura is right, this is happening too often to just ignore it, and if these visions keep coming… Maybe some neurologist can figure something out and make it stop._

"You know that's not true", she said out loud a second later, not even knowing where that was coming from, even though the unpleasant feeling that she wasn't speaking her own mind made her shiver yet again, "it will stop once you accepted what you are. If you'd done that today, this right now wouldn't have happened."

Despite her still pounding headache, Haruka did shake her head now, as if this could get rid of whatever presence was influencing her vocal chords; she cleared her throat for extra effect, then glanced around, as if she expected some odd being to stand somewhere nearby and speak through her, not really surprised though when she still found herself alone on the side of the road.

"This needs to stop", she decided after thinking about the whole predicament for another moment, "I'm losing my mind or something, what the Hell's happening to me?"

Groaning as fresh pain welled up in her head, she slumped forward in her seat, trying to soothe the pain by massaging her temples; it did nothing to lessen the headache though, and for a few horrible moments, she wondered if it'd never go away again, then asked herself where that thought had come from – normally, she wasn't such a fatalistic person who always expected the worst to happen.

"That's all your fault, Kaioh", she grumbled to herself, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain, "none of this happened before you came into my life, you stupid, crap-talking bi—"

Her cell phone started blaring in her pocket before she could finish the not so kind word, the unexpected sound making her flinch and only increasing her headache even further; for a moment, she was tempted to just ignore it, then remembered the fact that the last memory Yakimura and everyone else had of her had been the moment when they'd run away from the monster and had left her behind alone, and if she didn't take that call now, they'd surely think it had eaten her or something equally unpleasant and deadly. Thus, she dug out her phone, staring at the display for a few seconds, taking much more time than usual to read who was calling; it didn't surprise her that it was Yakimura, and she winced as she took the call and he immediately started yelling into her ear, sounding so agitated that it would have been comical under different circumstances.

"Haruka-san I'm so sorry! Are you okay?! We didn't want to abandon you there, I swear, but we were all so scared when this thing appeared so we just ran, I didn't even remember you still were on the track until we were a mile away from the garage and we didn't dare to go back and…" the elder man raved, not even giving her a chance to respond, making her wonder how he wanted to find out if she really was alright; she had to wait until he had to pause for breathing, quickly taking the chance given to talk when this finally happened.

"Yes, I'm fine", she reassured him, hoping none of her pain and dismay showed through her voice, "don't worry, I got away, that thing didn't hurt me."

"I'm so sorry we just left you there with this monster", Yakimura apologized once again, now sounding so guilty that it touched the blonde, "really, I am, I felt so bad when I realized we'd left you there, if anything had happened to you, I never would have forgiven myself."

"I'm fine, really", Haruka reassured him once more, deciding at once to not tell him about the most recent incident which had led to yet another nosebleed, along with a headache, "I took my car once that thing… turned back into our poor mechanic and went for a drive. I'll be back at the track tomorrow."

"Alright", Yakimura sighed out, sounding so relieved that it made the blonde smile, "see you tomorrow then, and take care. And don't forgot to settle a doctor's appointment!"

"I won't", she promised him in reply, "and see you tomorrow. Have a nice day."

"You too, thanks!" the elder man gave back, his voice now having returned to the usual cheerful sound; she thanked him as well, then ended the call, momentarily mystified, then relieved when she noticed that during the talk, her headache had vanished.

"Well, that's something", she muttered to herself, smirking slightly; she remained where she was for another minute to make sure it wouldn't come back, then finally started the engine and turned the car around, heading back to town, her dismay about the whole situation for the moment gone.


	12. Chapter 12

During the next two weeks, Haruka had her doctor's appointment – during which the doctor confirmed that nothing was wrong with her brain at all, that her headaches and nosebleeds most likely were caused by stress and that some painkillers should be enough to help her – and gave various interviews to several sports magazines; and when she wasn't talking to reporters or posing for photographs, she was at the racetrack, where the attack of the strange monster was treated as if it never had happened, with no one ever mentioning it – not even the unfortunate young mechanic who had _been _the monster, none of his colleagues treating him any different though, to his great relief.

The only one who ever talked to him about it was Haruka, asking him once how much he remembered, during a quiet moment when no one else was within earshot; to her dismay, he told her that he remembered nothing at all, and that he had a huge gap in his memory, between working on a car and waking up on the cold floor of a garage, with his chest hurting as if someone had punched him repeatedly. Even though she would have loved to find out why exactly the mechanic had been turned into a creepy worm monster, Haruka let the topic go after his explanation; after all, she had more important things on her mind now, with a big race and yet another gala to find sponsors coming up, and she reasoned with herself that she shouldn't waste her time on supernatural nonsense which didn't concern her anyway, conveniently ignoring the things Michiru had said to her after the worm had been defeated.

This was made considerably easier by the fact that the aqua haired girl had kept her promise this time and hadn't reappeared in Haruka's life again; the blonde only had seen her on TV and in the newspaper a few times since the monster attack, and even though she'd tried hard each time not to care, her heart had clenched up each time she had seen the deep sadness in the smaller woman's eyes, a sadness no one else seemed to notice. Sometimes, after seeing the violinist give fake smiles to cameras and reporters, Haruka would lie awake in bed the following night, asking herself if she was to blame for that sadness, even though deep inside, she already knew the answer; and each night after that, the nightmares would be much more intense and graphic, always ending with Michiru dead in her arms, killed in some gruesome fashion, while she screamed her anguish up at the darkened skies.

Along with the bad dreams at night, the visions kept plaguing her during the days, always accompanied by a nosebleed and a blinding headache; fortunately though, they at least were considerate enough to only strike when she was alone and not driving her car somewhere, always leaving her in pain and in dismay after yet another glimpse at what only could be a past life, but never endangering her more than absolutely necessary, even though she still couldn't help, but wonder what might happen, should she ever have one during a race or during training.

Whenever those ponderings would come up in her mind, she'd push them aside as fast as possible again, always telling herself that there was no use in worrying about this and that there was nothing she could do about it anyway; the pills her doctor had prescribed helped with the headaches, but did nothing to stop the visions, and by now, Haruka was pretty sure that there was only one way to stop them, even though this was something she never even allowed herself to consider.

Now, as she was getting ready for the gala on Saturday night of week two since what she mentally only called "The Incident", she found herself thinking of the strange seizures again, and of Michiru, asking herself if the aqua haired girl would be there again, like she had been the last time Haruka had been to such an event; technically, she shouldn't be, not after promising Haruka to stay away from her and keeping that promise up so far, but on the other hand, a gala couldn't really be seen as hounding her, not if she was invited too and just happened to be there as another guest.

_If she's there, I'll just ignore her, _Haruka decided to herself while she knotted her tie with fast, experienced moves, _and she better do the same if she knows what's good for her, or I'll yell at her in front of all those people or something._

She smirked to herself at the mental image this gave her, then checked herself in the large mirror once more, nodding at her reflection in satisfaction afterwards; deciding that the grey suit and the burgundy button up shirt made her look respectable enough, she made her way to the small anteroom to put on the black leather shoes she always wore to such occasions, then headed downstairs to the garage, eager to get behind the steering wheel of her car and to drive, even though she wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about the event she'd be driving too, but her manager had been very adamant about how necessary it was for her to be there, and she wasn't one to argue when it came to her sponsors and her future career.

Making sure that the road was free, Haruka drove out of the garage and, for once sticking to the speed limit, through the rather busy streets, using the first red light to glance at the address where the gala would be held once more; it was a mansion at the outskirts of town, and after a moment of thinking about it, the blonde knew how to drive there so that she'd avoid the busier main streets, already looking forward to steer her convertible through almost empty side alleys and hardly ever used lanes, smirking to herself as she signalled that she'd take a turn to the right.

As always when she drove through Tokyo, people on the street and other drivers would stare either at her, at her in person or at both; by now, she had gotten used to this though, flashing smiles at the prettier girls who gave her their attention, chuckling lowly to herself each time she managed to make one of them blush. Just like the traffic on the road thinned though, so did the people on the sidewalks as she drove through the quieter streets, getting closer and closer to her goal with each second that passed; and soon, after she took another turn to the right, she found herself completely alone, not a car or pedestrian in sight, something which was rare in Tokyo, the empty street making her frown to herself.

She had a moment to tell herself that it probably was just a stupid coincidence, and then she heard the familiar voice, calling out the words she had heard during the fight with the worm monster in the garage two weeks ago, the bright blue flash of the attack shining from the side alley up ahead, quickly making her realize what was going on.

"Great, just great", Haruka muttered to herself, cursing her luck for having to end up in this street right in this moment; she contemplated for a second to just drive on, maybe speed up a bit so she wouldn't see anything and probably wouldn't be noticed – and then she heard Michiru scream in pain, and before she even realized what she was about to do, she had stopped the car, had hopped out of it and was running towards the alley, already looking for something she could use as a weapon while she ran.

Reaching the corner, she skidded to a halt, taking in the situation with one glance, an ability she didn't even know she had possessed; in the back of her mind, she realized that she was looking at the scene the way a soldier might, but she couldn't be bothered with wondering about this now, not with Michiru on the ground, clutching an obviously broken arm, and yet another creature in front of her, something massive this time, made of steel and spikes and whirring blades, looking much more dangerous than the already creepy worm had had.

"Hey!" she yelled as she saw the thing raise one of those absurdly long and sharp blades, clearly with the intention to slash or stab at the aqua haired girl, "why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

Since the monster was quite a bit bigger and bulkier than her, this maybe hadn't been the most appropriate thing to say; it did help to gain the creature's attention though, and it snarled at her as the two shiny, small circular saws the thing used as eyes focused on her, along with hoarse cries of "Saw! Saw!", the blonde nearly smiling at how silly this was, despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Come on", she went on, giving her best to sound taunting, her gaze darting back and forth as she looked for someone she could use as a weapon, "what, you only wanna beat up on her? It'd impress your friends much more if you kicked my ass."

Crying out again, the creature charged at her in response; and then, everything happened at once, Haruka having time to notice that Michiru was getting back on her feet before the monster was upon her and one of the whirring saw blades came down, slicing through her suit jacket and shirt with no problem, cutting deep into her ribcage beneath, a pained cry coming from her as she went down on her knees, and then the blue glow hit once more, the last thing Haruka saw being the creature falling to the ground with a pained yell of its own before the world went dark around her.


	13. Chapter 13

"…please! Haruka-san, please wake up!" The urgency in Michiru's voice, along with the fact that sharp pain was pulsing through her at every breath, brought Haruka back around, and she groaned as she forced her eyelids open; she could feel blood trickle down her side, momentarily asking herself what exactly had driven her to do something so stupid, trying to be a hero without any weapon to help her fight that monster, then Michiru bent over her and obscured her view of everything else, the concern in the blue eyes touching the blonde despite her pain and initial dislike for the other woman.

"That was very brave, and very stupid", Michiru told her, still clutching her own arm as she looked at the wounded racer, "what were you thinking?!"

"That you were in danger, and that I couldn't just ignore it", Haruka rasped in reply, struggling to sit up and finally managing to do so; it took some of her willpower, but at last, she dared to glance down at herself, glad when nothing which was supposed to be inside of her was trying to get out through the gash the monster had left in her side.

"What about the monster?" she asked before Michiru could say anything else about her attempt at being heroic, "is it…?"

"Back to human", the aqua haired girl confirmed, "and out cold, like your mechanic. We should get you to a doctor, that cut looks really bad…"

"And you got a broken arm", Haruka couldn't stop herself from remarking, raising an eyebrow when Michiru made a dismissive gesture in reply, her voice indifferent when she answered. "I do, but it'll be fine again in an hour or two. Senshi healing."

"Oh", the blonde let out in reply, not all too smart, but not sure what else she could say; Michiru gave her a weak smile, then asked her if she could stand or if she should call in ambulance, the taller woman answering her question by coming to her feet, standing a bit shaky, but to her relief not ending up on the ground again, even though after half a minute, she had to lean against the nearest wall for support.

"I'm not sure I can drive", she had to admit, to her endless and quite obvious dismay, "do you know how to…?"

"Yes", Michiru confirmed, to her relief, "if you let me drive your precious car, I can take you to a hospital. Or to your doctor, whatever you prefer."

"Doctor", Haruka decided at once, "at the hospital, God knows who might see me and take a picture, and I'd have a hard time explaining that wound. I mean, 'A monster made of blades and saws cut me up' won't look good in the paper."

To her surprise, Michiru let out a short, but clearly genuine burst of laugh in reply; she regained control of herself quickly, still smiling though, with her eyes sparkling with mirth when she nodded, sounding mildly surprised when she replied. "Indeed, you're right about that… And who would have thought, you have a sense of humour."

"What a surprise", the blonde gave back with a roll of her eyes, making the aqua haired girl smile again; she took a step closer to Haruka, with the intention to steady her on the way to the car, and that was when the roar came up from the other end of the alley, making them both flinch, the blonde hissing in pain as the movement caused fresh pain to well up in her cut and fresh blood to drip from it.

"Oh God no", she heard Michiru breathe out next to her, "another one? So fast?"

"There's usually more time between attacks?" Haruka wanted to know, then nearly smacked herself as she realized that this wasn't the best time for such questions, concern flooding her when she realized that Michiru was still hurt and barely in the condition to fight the creature which now had spotted them and roared again, vaguely reminding her of the mythical Minotaur, especially with the bull's head and the nose ring it was sporting on top of a muscular body, the human upper body resting on a bull's legs, the tail twitching as it sniffed the air and stared at them with glowing red eyes.

"You can't fight this thing!" she cried out when Michiru moved away from her again and clenched her good hand into a fist, "you're hurt!"

"So are you", Michiru shot back at once, briefly looking at her before she focused on the bull-thing again, "and I have no choice, there's an innocent human somewhere in this thing!"

"If you fight that thing in your condition, you'll get hurt even worse, or maybe killed", Haruka argued while the bull snorted, its gaze moving back and forth from the blonde to the Sailor Senshi and back to the blonde again, clearly trying to figure out whom to attack first, "you can't do this alone…"

She trailed off as she realized what her words were implying – that Michiru wouldn't have to do any of this alone, had she picked up that odd blue pen two weeks ago instead of battering it aside, rejecting everything the aqua haired girl had told her and, supposedly, the very reason why she had been born in the first place.

To her credit, Michiru didn't remind her of this, but just shrugged, a gesture she regretted moments later as it sent fresh pain through her broken arm; she winced, and even though Haruka still tried to convince herself that she didn't care, neither about this woman nor about the fights she was fighting alone instead of together with her, she felt her heart clench up at the sound, and even though she still didn't want any part of the duties Michiru clearly had, she found herself wishing that the blue pen would appear again, so she could use it just once, could pay the aqua haired girl back for saving her.

The bright glow appeared right in front of her, blinding her; she heard Michiru gasp as the pen floated in mid-air within the blink of an eye, so close that Haruka merely had to raise her hand to grasp it, and that was just what she did, before she could change her mind or before the other woman could try to talk her out of it.

The moment her fingers closed around the blue pen, she felt the strength it held flood her and fill her, a strength which was ancient, but powerful, and so familiar; without even noticing, she started to smirk, her grip on the pen tightening as she took a step away from the wall, not even feeling her injury anymore, not noticing that Michiru was staring at her with wide eyes, her mouth almost comically hanging open, a sight which surely would have amused Haruka, had she paid attention.

Since she was too busy with what holding the pen was making her feel though, she didn't even glance at the violinist; instead, she breathed "Oh damn, that feels good" – before she took another step away from the wall, the words coming to her as if she had said them a thousand times before, her voice strong and confident when she said them, her grip on the pen tightening even further with every syllable. "Uranus Planet Power… Make… Up!"

The energy running through her increased a hundredfold, becoming so strong that she had a second to wonder if she'd be able to handle it; and then, she started moving, knowing exactly what she had to do and when she had to do it as she changed, going through the transformation with the ease only decades of practice could have brought, briefly amazed by how the gash in her side slowly closed as she finished the change, her suit and shirt and shoes gone, replaced by an outfit similar to Michiru's, with the colours she already known it would have.

"Uranus", she heard Michiru, Neptune, whisper behind her, her voice full of amazement; still she didn't look at her, but kept her gaze focused on the bull-creature, a sardonic smirk curling her lips as she brought her hand up, the movements just as familiar as those during her transformation had been, the name of her attack coming to her as easily as her own whenever she introduced herself to someone.

"World… Shaking!" she half yelled, half snarled, and even more strength flooded her as the bright yellow ball of energy formed around her raised fist; she took another moment to savour how good it felt to have so much power literally on the tips of her fingers – before she slammed her fist down to the ground in a move she knew so well it was eerie, and the energy left her fist and raced along the ground, rising again in the last possible moment to hit the bull in the chest and send it flying backwards with a roar of pain and indignation.

Sailor Uranus had a moment to ask herself if she could do it again so quickly, knowledge which, unlike her attack and transformation, hadn't come up when she had grasped the pen – _the Henshin Stick, you know that's what it's called, _a small voice whispered in the back of her mind – and then Neptune was by her side, smiling as she called her own attack and sent it against the bull, the two different forms of energy clearly being enough to take it out, since it changed back to a human, a young man with a strangely fitting bulky build who slumped down to the ground unconscious, both women forgetting him the moment he landed there as they turned to look at each other, Michiru's eyes shining with happiness and something which might be tears as she reached out with her good hand to grasp Haruka's, her voice hoarse and soft when she spoke three words which warmed the blonde's heart. "Welcome back, Uranus."


	14. Chapter 14

"Ugh", Uranus grumbled once the excitement about the transformation and about using her attack had died down, tugging at the hem of her skirt, "you actually run around like that? If just a tiny breeze comes up, people will be able to see my underwear. Wait, are we even wearing underwear beneath this? Or will I just moon them?"

"I'll gladly answer any questions you might have", Neptune let her know in reply, still smiling, but not close to tears anymore, "but we shouldn't talk out here on the street, someone might come by any moment. Let's change back and go somewhere more private."

"Okay", Uranus agreed, but didn't make a move, to Neptune's evident surprise; she gave her a questioning look, and to her amusement, the tall blonde blushed slightly when she spoke on after a moment. "I'm not sure how to do that…"

"Just think about it", the aqua haired girl advised, "it'll just… happen. It's kinda hard to explain, I'm sorry…"

"Okay", the blonde repeated, then closed her eyes to concentrate easier; and just a few moments later, bright light surrounded her, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut even tighter, and when she opened them again, she was back into her suit and shirt, the clothing still slashed and bloodstained from the hit she had taken, the injury fully gone though.

"Well that's convenient", she mused out loud, making Michiru smile – before she turned back as well, her arm still broken after she had finished, but if it pained her, she didn't let it show, sounding calm and controlled now as she asked Haruka if they should go somewhere more private now.

"Yeah", the blonde agreed at once, "I should be at some silly gala yet again, but there's no way in Hell I'll just let you run around alone with a broken arm, not to mention I need to know so much now."

"Quite protective and eager, considering you told me to stay away from you two weeks ago", Michiru couldn't hold back a little tease; clearing her throat, Haruka blushed slightly, then just shrugged grumpily, the aqua haired girl smiling at her and telling her not to worry before she asked if her car was parked nearby.

"Yeah, just around the corner", the taller woman let her know, then gave her a worried look, gesturing at her arm as they started walking to said vehicle. "But are you sure this'll heal up properly? Maybe you should go to the doc, I mean, if you want to paint and be a violinist, and your arm doesn't heal up properly…"

"Your concern touches me", Michiru gave back, the tone of her voice making it hard for Haruka to figure out if she was serious or teasing her yet again, "but don't worry, it'll heal just fine. It has been broken before, along with my other arm, one leg, and several ribs. Being a Sailor Senshi is a dangerous calling, you know."

"Yeah, I figured that one out already", Haruka mumbled, her hand briefly going to her side where a deep slash had been not all too long ago, "but that healing thing's really nifty."

"Don't even think of depending on it too strongly", Michiru warned her as they reached the car and the blonde opened the door for her, "it helps a lot and it heals quite the damage, but if you get hurt too worse, even that won't safe you. We're not immortal, you know."

Nodding, Haruka got into the vehicle as well and started the engine – before she realized that she had no idea where to go and shot Michiru a questioning look, the aqua haired woman shrugging in response, already knowing what Haruka would ask before the blonde even had a chance to open her mouth.

"I don't care where we go", she then told her, "we can go to your place, or mine. Not a café or anything though, too many ears all around in such a public place."

"Well, I have no idea where you live, so I don't know how far away your home is", Haruka pointed out as an answer, "but mine is quite near, so…"

"Your place it is then", Michiru made the decision, "I just want a couch where I can sit down. Or perhaps lie down. Do you have a couch big enough for that?"

"Well, I can lie down on it, so it shouldn't be a problem for you", the blonde dryly replied, making the violinist giggle slightly; and after a moment, Haruka smiled back at her, then stepped down on the gas pedal and drove off, soon back on the road which would lead to her apartment building.

* * *

"You want something to drink?" Haruka asked once they had arrived at her home and Michiru had made herself comfortable on the couch, as she had wished to ever since they had gotten into the blonde's car, "tea maybe, or some water?"

"Tea would be nice", the aqua haired girl gave back, moving to sit up on the couch again, "but let me help you, I…"

"You will do no such thing", Haruka told her in a strict voice, "you're still hurt. I can handle making tea on my own, so just stay here and get comfortable."

Surprised, but pleased about this sudden change in the taller woman's behaviour, Michiru nodded and sank back down into her lying position; Haruka gave her another brief glance, then vanished into the kitchen, busying herself with making tea there while she pondered why her behaviour towards the smaller woman had changed to drastically – after all, she had been pretty nasty to her the last time they had met, and had told her to stay away from her, and now, she had taken her home with her, even without having any ulterior motives as she usually did whenever she took a pretty girl home, and was making tea for her, something she never had done for any of her guests before.

"Well", she then mumbled to herself, not caring if Michiru could hear her in the living room and might think her odd for talking to herself, "if we gotta fight together from now on, we might as well get along…"

"Yes", the smaller woman's voice came from behind her, startling her enough to make her jump; she almost spun around, giving the violinist a strict look, the same emotion in her voice when she reminded Michiru of the fact that she shouldn't be here, but on the couch and resting.

"I was getting bored", Michiru let her know, as if that explained everything; she leaned against the kitchen counter and watched how Haruka fumbled with the electric water kettle for a while, then finally figured out how to use it, a small smirk curling the violinist's lips at the blonde's efforts.

"You don't often drink tea, do you", she then stated, giggling again when the taller woman shook her head, eying the kettle suspiciously as she waited for the water to start boiling, a cup with a teabag already standing next to it.

"I'm more of a coffee person", Haruka then let her guest know, looking at her again, "tea's never really been my thing. I just keep some around in case I have to bring home pretty, but injured girls."

"Oh, you do that often, then?" the aqua haired girl shot back at once, momentarily surprising the taller woman – when she had made that comment, she had expected a reaction more fitting for someone with Michiru's status and personality, some blushing and stuttering perhaps, but not a display of such a quick wit.

"All the time", she replied after another second, hoping the violinist hadn't noticed her brief surprise, "just like I help pretty hurt girls to fight nasty monsters regularly. Didn't you know?"

"Not until now", Michiru gave back, a slight smile curling her lips, "you kept that out of the newspapers really well. I hope you don't end up hurt each time you rescue a pretty girl."

"Nah", Haruka reassured her with a wave of her hand, "just whenever I rescue an exceptionally pretty girl."

This time, her words have the effect she'd been hoping for when she'd made the first comment in that direction – Michiru cleared her throat noisily, a blush giving her cheeks a healthy rosy colour, and for a few moments, the aqua haired girl clearly found it hard to look the taller woman in the eye.

To her just as obvious relief, the water started to boil at last, distracting Haruka from teasing her that way; this behaviour surprised Michiru even more than the initial kindness had, after the dislike she had felt coming from the racer when they first had met, and she wasn't all too sure what to make of it, well aware of the way Haruka usually treated the girls she talked to that way, charming them with compliments and kind words and forgetting them the moment they were out her door in the next morning, after a night of activities the aqua haired girl would rather not think about right this moment, not sure how much of her thoughts were showing on her face.

"There you go", Haruka distracted her from her ponderings, holding the cup out to her, the teabag now swimming the steaming hot water, "you should probably let it steep for a few more minutes though, or it'll just be hot water."

Nodding, Michiru accepted the cup, holding it carefully with her good hand as she thanked the blonde; they took a moment to smile at each other, then made their way back into the living room after Haruka had helped herself to a cooled can of coke from the fridge, knowing that now, it was time for some answers about what exactly was going on.


	15. Chapter 15

Before the questioning started, Haruka called her manager and told him a dramatic story about an emergency concerning a close friend, and that said emergency was the reason why she wouldn't be able to make it to the gala after all; he whined and griped for a while, but then accepted it at last, telling her to make sure that her friend was okay and reassuring her that he'd take care of finding new sponsors then before he ended the call at last, the blonde rolling her eyes the moment she had tucked the phone back into her pocket again.

"Sorry that took so long", she then apologized, sitting down in the comfortable armchair so she could face Michiru, who had taken the couch yet again, "he can be quite the pest…"

"He seemed really persistent", the violinist politely replied, making the blonde smirk as she nodded; for a few moments, silence filled the room, even though it wasn't an uncomfortable one, despite the fact it should have been, seeing that the two were almost complete strangers to each other, then Haruka cleared her throat, her curiousness showing clearly through her voice when she finally asked the first question. "So… what the Hell exactly is going on?"

"Well", Michiru gave back, trying to sort out where to start, since this had been quite the vague question, "those dreams you've been having are the reason why we are here, we must stop the darkness and the chaos you've dreamed of… It's called the Silence."

"Wasn't very silent when I dreamed of it", Haruka mumbled, making Michiru smile slightly as she nodded; after a moment, the taller woman smiled back at her, then the aqua haired girl continued, with the racer listening to her with great interest, mesmerized by what she was being told.

"You and me, we are Sailor Senshi", Michiru let her know, "born to fight against any foes which might threaten our planet and the future kingdom."

"Kingdom", Haruka echoed, "what kingdom?"

"The Silver Millenium", the aqua haired girl explained in reply, "the visions you were having were… I guess you could call them memories of a past life. I'm having them, too, though they haven't been as intense as yours."

"I somehow got the feeling that the intensity will lessen again, now that I accepted that blue pen", the blonde thought out loud, not surprised when Michiru nodded, a hint of amusement in the smaller girl's voice when she continued.

"Possibly", she agreed verbally as well, "even though I doubt that you ever were in any real danger. The… being responsible for us receiving the visions would never knowingly endanger a fellow Senshi. And you know that the pen's correct name is Henshin Stick."

"Are there any others?" Haruka wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, "I remember talking to someone named Jupiter in my visions, and this being you just mentioned…"

"Yes, there are more", Michiru confirmed, "but I have no idea who they are. In their civilian lives, I mean. We'll probably run into them sooner or later during our mission, theirs might differ from ours, I don't know…"

"This sounds like something out of a fantasy novel", Haruka sighed in reply, taking a sip of her coke before she continued, her words making the violinist smile slightly. "But, well, since I'm living it right now, I suppose I can't claim it's all made up anymore. I did use the Henshin Stick after all, and it made me change into a horrendously short skirt, so… Unless, of course, I had a seizure in my car and crashed and now, I'm comatose and dreaming all of this."

In response, Michiru raised an eyebrow at her – before she leaned over the table and reached out with one hand, the racer yelping a second later as the smaller girl pinched her arm, hard enough to hurt, but being considerate enough to make sure it wouldn't bruise.

"Okay, not a dream", Haruka grumbled in reply, rubbing the sore spot on her arm, "but did you have to pinch so hard?"

"Says the woman who let a monster made of blades and saws slice her up not even an hour ago and didn't bat an eye", the smaller woman shot back, smiling when Haruka let out a short burst of laughter in reply, amusement glinting in her teal eyes as she responded. "Touché. Good point."

Still smiling, Michiru just held her gaze for a few moments, then looked down on her cup and picked it up again, taking a delicate sip from it; clearly having no qualms about not coming across as elegant and graceful, Haruka in turn took a big gulp from her coke, at least having the grace to cover her mouth afterwards to stifle a burp, the violinist still raising an eyebrow at her though.

"So crude", she then stated, shaking her head, "you behaved much more refined at the gala. Even though you were quite… cold to me."

"…sorry about that", the blonde mumbled after a moment, avoiding Michiru's gaze now, her whole body showing how uncomfortable it was making her to say those words, "it was nothing personal, really, just…"

She trailed off, but even though she didn't know her new partner very well yet, the aqua haired girl sensed there was more she had to say and thus remained quiet, glad to see that her intuition had been right when Haruka spoke on a minute later.

"Just me trying to run away", she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper, "as I always have, all my life."

Realizing that some kind of comfort was needed, even though she wasn't sure she'd be able to give it, not knowing Haruka very well after all, Michiru leaned forward again, reaching out once more; this time, she didn't pinch the racer though, but placed a warm and tender hand on the taller woman's arm, teal eyes coming up in surprise and meeting hers at the unexpected gentle touch.

"It's perfectly natural to run from something as big as this", Michiru let her know in a low and sincere voice, showing her that she meant every word, "do you think I just accepted it and went with it? I was so scared too, and all I wanted was to ignore it until it'd go away, so I could go on living my life. But I accepted it in the end, I was brave, and so were you, tonight, when you went up against this creature unarmed and without your powers, and then took the Henshin Stick…"

"Yeah, after you hounded me about it for two weeks, saved my life when that worm attacked, and nearly got yourself killed by the blade monster", Haruka argued back in reply, not willing to let herself off the hook so easily, "and if I hadn't happened to drive by that fight tonight, who knows how long it would have taken…"

"I don't care about any 'What If' scenario you might come up with", Michiru firmly told her in reply, "in the end, you accepted your destiny, and that's all that matters."

"Yeah, cause I accepted it with open arms real quick", Haruka gave back sarcastically, forced to hold back a smirk when Michiru rolled her eyes in response.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated", the smaller woman then let her know, another eyeroll coming from her at the blonde's response. "I'm not sarcastic, I'm totally serious."

Moments later, she regretted those words as she noticed the mischief spark which was entering the violinist's blue eyes; and yet another second later, she knew that the regret had been justified, not able to hold back a wince at Michiru's reply. "Of course you were. It's alright though, experience showed me that sarcastic people tend to be marshmallows beneath the armour."

"Hrmph", was the only reply the blonde could come up with, making Michiru giggle slightly; she gave the taller woman another smile, then took another sip of her tea, only to nearly choke on it when finally, Haruka regained her ability to form coherent sentences.

"Yeah, not that we're wearing much armour when we're… changed. Seriously, couldn't they come up with anything better?", she wanted to know, frowning at the memory of the short skirt, "and how do you run and fight in this thing without letting the whole world see your panties? Is there training for that?"

"No", the aqua haired girl replied with a laugh, "but one gets used to it, I can promise you that. And I think you already know that, you've been having the visions after all, right?"

"Right", Haruka sighed, "but to be honest, I didn't really pay attention on details like clothing when I had them, there was too much other weird stuff going on. Same about the dreams."

"I know what you mean", Michiru nodded at once, "you surely can imagine how scary it was when I had those dreams the first time. That was when I drew the painting you saw at the gala where we met…"

Not sure what to reply, Haruka just nodded as well, and once more, silence filled the room; again though, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, the two just looking at each other for a while as they drank their beverages, then Haruka finally asked yet another question about her newfound duty and destiny, time soon flying by as Michiru started to explain and the blonde listened, both women for the first time since they had met feeling fully comfortable around each other.


	16. Chapter 16

During the next three weeks, Haruka indeed learned how to fight and run in the horribly short skirt without showing her underwear to the world each time; there were a few embarrassing moments during the first few fights she went through with Michiru, but at least, the aqua haired girl was polite enough to never laugh at her, not even mentioning the incidents, to the blonde's great relief.

"Alright", she panted after yet another fight had been won, glaring at the unconscious woman who had been turned into a monster this time, "this is really getting tiresome. How many more of these things will we have to fight?"

"I have no idea", Neptune gave back, running both hands through her slightly tousled hair, then eying the gash the monster had torn into the blonde's arm with concern, stepping closer to her.

"You shouldn't be so reckless", she admonished, looking at the blood still dripping from the unsettlingly deep wound, "I've told you before, we have faster healing than normal people, but that's no reason to risk life and limb each time we get into a fight."

"You haven't seen me reckless yet", Uranus protested at once, not all too perturbed by the fact that she'd been wounded, knowing that the cut would be gone within an hour or so, "not my fault that she managed to dodge that one hit and sliced me up."

"One of these days, they'll slice up more than your arm", Neptune sighed with a roll of her eyes; the taller woman just shrugged, then glanced around to make sure no one was watching before she changed back, immediately rolling up the sleeve of her button-up shirt the moment the transformation back to Haruka was completed, not wanting to let the white fabric get soaked with blood.

"We have our attacks for a reason, you know", Michiru told her the second she had finished changing back as well, giving her yet another strict look, "so we can attack from a distance and don't need to get into close combat."

"I know", Haruka sighed, grimacing now as she flexed her fingers and could feel the pain pulse through her arm, the adrenaline of the fight finally wearing off, "but sometimes I can't help it, fighting makes my blood well up."

"I know the feeling", the aqua haired girl reassured her, "but it's important to stay in control even then, we can't afford it that one of us gets seriously hurt and endangers our mission."

"…I'll try to be more careful, alright?" Haruka finally gave in after thinking about it for a second, not wanting to discuss this any further – now that the adrenaline was gone, she was feeling sore and tired, suddenly wanting nothing more than to go home and fall down onto her couch so she could rest a bit.

To her relief, her words apparently were enough for the violinist, since she nodded and smiled at her; Haruka had a moment to ponder the fact that, during the last week, Michiru had smiled at her quite often, and always that one special smile she only seemed to give her, one which was very different from the smiles she usually had for the cameras, then the aqua haired girl was speaking up again, gaining her attention once more.

"My home is not far from here", she let her taller partner know, "if it's alright with you, we might as well go there and I can take care of your cut there. I've got a first aid kit at home."

"Shouldn't it be healed in an hour or so anyway?" Haruka wanted to know, frowning; to her relief, Michiru nodded, then gave her yet another smile, her next words making the racer's lips curl upwards as well.

"It will be, yes, but I imagine it hurts now and you are tired, so you might as well use my couch to rest", she told the blonde; at once, Haruka nodded her agreement, then asked if it was far, relieved again when the violinist shook her head – driving wasn't impossible, the injury wasn't that bad, but she still knew it would hurt.

"Let's go then", she said out loud, earning yet another nod from the violinist; they smiled at each other for another moment, then moved to the blonde's car and both got into the vehicle, with Michiru telling Haruka where she had to go as the taller woman drove and gave her best not to let her pain show, realizing that this would be the first time she'd be at Michiru's home, suddenly curious about what would await her there.

* * *

It didn't really surprise Haruka that Michiru's apartment was filled with tasteful and obviously expensive furniture – after all, she knew the aqua haired girl's clothing style quite well by now, and had figured out thanks to all the designer skirts and dresses that she was successfully enough to afford quite a bit, the furniture in all the rooms just adding proof to that theory.

"It's not bleeding anymore", she told her after she had stepped out of her shoes and the smaller woman was leading her into the living room, "so you won't need to worry that I bleed on your couch."

"It's leather", the violinist let her know with a mischief glint in her eyes, "so no worries there. You have no idea how often I've bled on it when I'd still been doing this alone. Sit down."

"And you say I'm reckless", Haruka teased as she sat down; it didn't surprise her that Michiru didn't even dignify this with a reply, only giving her a _look _before she told her to stay where she was and left for the bathroom to get the first aid kit, the blonde making herself comfortable on the couch in the meantime, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about the time she had spent fighting by Michiru's side ever since she had accepted her destiny.

To her immense surprise, the two of them had started working together during those fights so quickly and smoothly that almost immediately, it seemed as if they had been doing that for years; and along with their increasing ability to work as a team, they started feeling more and more comfortable around each other as well, with Haruka by now making her usual teasing and flirting remarks whenever she had a chance, and Michiru, to her delight, always reacting accordingly, usually teasing back without missing a beat.

"Alright", the aqua haired girl's voice distracted her from her ponderings, "I got all I need. We don't want to take any risks, so I brought some disinfectant as well."

Letting out some vaguely agreeing noise, Haruka shuffled sideways on the couch so Michiru could sit down next to her; she watched how the violinist put the bottle of iodine, the rolled up bandage and the box of painkillers she had brought along on the living room table, grimacing when the bottle of iodine was opened – that stuff had been used on various cuts and bruises she had gained in her life so far, and she still remembered how bad it always had burned in the wound.

"This might hurt", Michiru warned her, pouring some of the nasty brown stuff on a piece of mull she had brought along; nodding, Haruka bravely grit her teeth, not able to hold back a wince though when the cloth touched the edges of the gash and immediately, her arm felt as if it had been set on fire.

"Ow", she finally had to let out, and immediately, the violinist took the chance given for teasing, giving her an amused glance before she focused on cleaning the injury again, sounding mildly amused as well when she replied to her small sound of pain. "Who would have thought, the tough Haruka Tenoh is a big baby."

"I am not a big baby", Haruka protested at once, glaring at her companion, "that just hurts like Hell. You should know!"

"I do", Michiru nodded, finally getting done with the cleaning process, to the blonde's obvious relief; she gave her a brief look and a smile to show that her words hadn't been as serious as they might have sounded, then focused on wrapping the bandage around the racer's arm, knotting it carefully just a few minutes later.

"There", she stated the obvious, "all done." Falling silent again, she kept one hand on the blonde's arm, making her wonder if there was any special reason for that or if she just wanted to give her some comfort after making fun of her; curious, she glanced up from the perfectly white bandage and right into Michiru's eyes, not even noticing how she held her breath as she got caught in the violinist's gaze.

Swallowing heavily, she found herself unable to look away again, her heart racing in her chest all at once, as if she just had ran ten miles at full speed; clearly, Michiru had similar troubles, since her cheeks were taking on a healthy rosy colour, her breath speeding up audibly, her fingers now moving over the taller woman's forearm, caressing her so tenderly that it almost felt as a light breeze was touching her instead of another human being.

Even though she knew that it probably was a bad idea, that it might make things awkward between them or even might earn her a slap from Michiru, Haruka couldn't stop herself from leaning in; and to her endless delight, the aqua haired girl did the same, holding her breath now as well as their lips were barely inches apart, ready to touch any moment in a kiss that would be the gentlest and sweetest of their lives…

With eerie simultaneity, Haruka's phone began to blare away in her pocket while Michiru's started to vibrate on the living room table; it was enough to shatter the mood of the moment and to make them jump apart, both of them looking startled, then mildly annoyed, avoiding each other's eyes as they each got the interrupting device from the respective location.

"My manager", the blonde told her companion after a glance at the display, and to her surprise and slight amusement, Michiru let her know that hers was the one calling her, as well; they rolled their eyes in surprising synchronicity, then the aqua haired girl headed out of the room so she could talk in peace while Haruka took the call, finding it hard to concentrate on what her manager was telling her though, her mind still stuck on how close to kissing Michiru she had been, nearly reeling as she asked herself where that had come from and why she suddenly wanted nothing more than to feel the smaller woman's lips on hers.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of updates since the last one… I honestly had been planning to update last Sunday, but my busy schedule just got in the way :( to make up for it, here's a longer one ;)

Even though they had been just inches apart from kissing when they had been so harshly interrupted, both women acted as if nothing happened when Michiru finally returned to the living room, phone still in hand; she didn't look all too happy, an expression which was mirrored on Haruka's face when she asked her what the call had been about, not caring if this might be perceived as too nosy.

"Another gala", Michiru replied with a roll of her eyes, thankful that Haruka wasn't trying to bring up the almost-kiss – she had been more than willing to kiss the blonde, but the interruption had made the whole situation quite awkward, and for the moment she was content with pretending it had never happened, not even sure what had made her act this way. Of course, Haruka was attractive, there was no use in even trying to deny that, and there also were certain dreams she had been having ever since the racer had accepted the Henshin Stick, but still…

"Not the one on Friday?" Haruka now distracted her from those ponderings, making her look up at her again with a raised eyebrow before she confirmed her manager had to been talking about just that one, her second eyebrow moving up as well when the blonde let out a snort in reply.

"My manager called about the same thing", she explained her odd reaction, "he wants me to go there. Again. To find sponsors."

"I'm just supposed to be there because it's my 'target group', as he put it", Michiru replied with a roll of her eyes, "you know, rich old men with young trophy wives who like classical music and paintings they don't understand."

The not very flattering description of the gala's guests made Haruka laugh out loud, and after a moment, the violinist giggled as well – just a second during which she had allowed herself to admire the blonde's laugh, the throaty and hoarse sound and how it sounded so sincere and honest, coming from her heart and not being faked the way it was so often at such galas.

"You know", the racer spoke up again once she had calmed down enough to talk, giving her best to sound nonchalant, "since we're both going there, I might as well pick you up on my way there, then you won't need to bother with a chauffeur or a taxi."

"…good thinking", Michiru replied after a brief internal debate if she should already be teasing again, so quickly after the almost-kiss, and do so by asking if this was Haruka's way to ask her out for a date, only to come to the conclusion that it probably was too early for something like that.

"I'll pick you up at eight then?" Haruka suggested, making the violinist nod; then, she changed the topic by asking if her arm still hurt, smiling slightly when the racer reassured her that it had stopped doing so a while ago.

_When we almost kissed, in fact, _the blonde thought to herself, wisely not saying those words out loud though – it already had been awkward enough right after they almost had done just that, and there was no need to bring that back to the surface, Michiru obviously also preferring to act as if it never had happened.

"Make sure to be on time", Michiru now told her, "I promised my agent I'd be there at half past eight."

"I can pick you up earlier", Haruka offered in reply, smirking when the aqua haired girl shook her head, giving a quite good reason for her decline moments later.

"No need to", she let the blonde know, smiling up at her with that special smile again, unaware of how she made the racer's heart speed up, "knowing how you drive, I have no worries that we'll be on time."

"Hey, I have perfect control over my car all the time", Haruka protested playfully, the smaller woman letting out a giggle, this time even batting her eyelashes at her along with the smile as she spoke up again. "I never said you weren't…"

Smiling back at her, Haruka momentarily was at a loss for words; and for a few seconds, they just kept looking at each other again, then the taller woman cleared her throat, managing to sound not too awkward when she let Michiru know that she should get to her own place now.

"Take care", Michiru told her after nodding, "and in case we don't see each other anymore until then, see you on Friday."

"Yup", the blonde agreed, then told her to take care as well; the aqua haired girl nodded, then accompanied the taller woman to the front door, wishing her a nice evening, Haruka returning those words as well before she finally left the apartment and made her way down to her car, still unable to stop thinking about the almost-kiss, asking herself what would have happened if their respective managers hadn't called right this second.

* * *

_They were alone at last, after sitting through yet another tedious dinner with the Queen and her guests; they knew that it was their obligation as princesses of their planets, but that didn't mean that they had to enjoy each and every dinner the Queen gave for her various guests._

_Due to their education, they had known better than to let this dismay show, being as polite and considerate as they always were, even though they'd both wanted nothing more than just retreating to Neptune's bedroom as fast as possible; and finally, the Queen had given her guests leave to go, and they had taken the chance given before they could be roped into mindless small talk, kissing deeply the moment they had reached the room and the door had fallen close behind them._

"_I thought this dinner would never end", Neptune murmured against her lips, running both hands through her short hair for another moment before she moved her hands to the front of her dress uniform, hurriedly opening the shiny golden buttons, giving her a moment to remember how long she'd been forced into discussions about this before she finally had gotten permission to wear said uniform instead of the horrendous dresses her mother had had in mind for her when she had been sent to the castle._

"_Me too", she managed to agree, and then Neptune's dress came off, the clasps and straps undone by her quick, skilled fingers, and the ability to talk fleeted her as the aqua haired girl now stood in front of her in just her underwear, her mouth going dry as for a few moments, all she could do was stare. No matter how long she'd be with the other soldier, she then realized, she'd never grow tired of looking at her, would never think of her as anything else than absolutely, stunningly perfect and beautiful._

"_Liking what you're seeing?" Neptune wanted to know, a mischief glint in her eyes, tearing her out of her brief trance and making her smirk as she nodded – no matter how reserved and polite, sometimes even cold, the aqua haired soldier acted towards anyone else, with her, she always let this side of her personality show, the teasing and loving and caring person no one else knew, not even her parents._

"_You know, for you, the look, don't touch rule doesn't count", Neptune told her, and she immediately took her up on that offer, pulling her close for yet another deep kiss, and then her uniform jacket falls to the floor, followed by her shirt, and all thoughts leave her mind as all she can focus on is Neptune and how the smaller soldier makes her feel._

With her breath getting stuck in her throat, Haruka opened her eyes in the darkness of her bedroom, staring up at the ceiling for a few seconds – before she mumbled a low, but harsh curse to herself and rolled over, sitting up in her bed and running both hands through her hair.

"Jeez", she then mumbled, shaking her head to herself, "one almost-kiss is enough to make me have wet dreams of Michiru? I really need to get laid."

She grimaced as those words made her realize that, ever since she had accepted her destiny, she hadn't taken another girl home with her; so far, she had reasoned with herself that this was because there always was the danger that she might be called to a fight in the middle of the night, and that she'd have a hard time explaining this, but now, after the rather erotic dream and in the darkness of her bedroom, she had to admit to herself that this wasn't the real reason for her lack of female company lately.

_You're not doing that anymore because you know Michiru wouldn't approve, _she thought to herself, a small sigh escaping her, _and you have no idea why her approval of you is so important. Sure, you almost kissed her a few hours ago, but even before that, all you wanted was for her to like you, and whenever she smiles at you or teases you…_

Another sigh came from her as she thought of the butterflies which filled her stomach each time Michiru did one of the things she just had been thinking about; it almost was scary how much she already liked the aqua haired girl, especially after how she had felt about her when they had first met, finding herself more and more often daydreaming about how it'd be to kiss her, to hold her and to run her hands through the long, slightly wavy hair of the other girl.

"Way to go, Haruka", she grumbled at herself, lying back down and staring up at the ceiling, "falling in love with this girl without even knowing yet if she even swings that way."

For a moment, she thought of the almost-kiss again, asking herself if this could mean that Michiru did in fact swing that way; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, reminding herself of the quite busy schedule she had in the next day, her thoughts still circling around Michiru and how good it had felt to be with her in her dream until she finally drifted back into dreamland.

* * *

Already when Haruka stopped her car in front of the building where the gala would be held and both Michiru and she got out of the vehicle, people were looking and whispering to each other, clearly surprised to see the violinist with the racer; ignoring them, the blonde handed her keys to the valet, then smirked at the smaller woman as she offered her arm to her, knowing that this would only fuel the gossip further, but all at once taking a strange delight in confusing the watching people about what was going on between Michiru and her.

For a moment, her smirk nearly vanished as she thought about what exactly was going on between Michiru and her – namely nothing, except for the usual teasing and mild flirting they'd shared already before they almost had kissed, neither Haruka, nor the aqua haired girl mentioning said almost-kiss ever again, both acting as if it never had happened. And even though the flirting and teasing wasn't enough for her anymore by now, Haruka never tried to kiss her companion again, not sure how the smaller woman would react, and not wanting to imagine how awkward the partnership they had been forced into on the battlefield would become then, should she try to kiss her and be rejected.

Every now and then, she asked herself if this was the right thing to do, if maybe, Michiru had just the same doubts and worries, and if they were just tormenting themselves by not doing anything to take the friendship which had formed between them now to the next level; during those moments of doubt, she wondered if she shouldn't just try to kiss her again and see what would happen, always deciding against it though, not wanting to risk the fragile bond of friendship they had managed to build between them in the last few weeks.

Now, those doubts were far from her mind as Michiru smiled back at her, then accepted the offer and hooked her hand into the crook of the taller woman's arm; this made the onlookers whisper among each other again, their stares following them as they made their way up the stairs together and told the well-dressed man at the entrance their names, prompting to nod as he checked them off on the guest list he had been given.

As they entered the large mansion, Haruka caught a passing glance of Michiru and herself in one of the glass doors in the foyer, and she had to admit that she could understand why the other guests were staring – Michiru and she looked quite stunning together, with the violinist in a light blue dress which hugged her curves and gave everyone who looked at her a good idea of the body beneath it, and herself in a classically black suit which told of how expensive it had been at the first casual glance, the dark blue shirt she was wearing beneath the jacket coincidentally matching the colour of the smaller woman's dress quite well.

"We're quite the sensation, aren't we", Michiru murmured next to her, low enough to make sure nobody else would hear; smirking again, the blonde nodded, casually glancing around and prompting several of the other guests to look away the moment her gaze met theirs.

"They're probably wondering what you're doing here with me, of all people", she then told the violinist as they made their way to the host of the gala, the elder man already having spotted them and waving at them enthusiastically, "after all, our social circles don't usually connect."

"Good point", Michiru had to admit, smiling back at her, "and they are probably wondering why I'm here with you because you do have a certain reputation by now."

Before Haruka could come up with an answer to that, they had gotten within earshot of their host, and she was forced to bite her tongue; making herself smile politely at the elder man, she shook his hand when he offered it, her smile widening slightly when he told her that he was a big fan.

"I watch each of your races", he let her know, folding his hands in front of his chest and bowing slightly, "it is an honour to welcome you in my home, Tenoh-san!"

"It's my pleasure to be here", Haruka reassured him, snatching a glass of champagne off the tray a passing waiter was holding; the host beamed at her again, then his attention moved to Michiru, and he bowed slightly once more, his smile impossibly widening even further when he spoke up again.

"And you brought such a pleasant other guest!" he gushed, his enthusiasm making Michiru smile, "of course I'm honoured to have you here as well, Kaioh-san! You know, I always listen to your music when I watch the races of Tenoh-san."

At hearing this, Haruka was unable to hold back a slight twitch of her eyebrow, asking herself how exactly the classical music Michiru played worked with her racing; clearly not as perturbed by hearing this, the violinist just smiled and thanked the elder man for his kind words, only to giggle the moment he had excused himself to greet other guests and was out of earshot again.

"He listens to my music while he watches your races?" she then repeated, shaking her head slightly while Haruka grabbed yet another glass from the nearest tray and offered it to the smaller woman, Michiru accepting it with a smile, each woman noticing from the corner of her eye how someone took a photograph of them the very moment the aqua haired girl took the glass, but not bothering to look at the photographer.

"To each their own, I suppose", Michiru went on after taking a sip of the champagne, briefly marvelling at how good it tasted, showing that it had been quite expensive, "but I really can't imagine how that works together."

"Me neither", the blonde agreed, "but, well, as you said, to each their own. I'd rather not find out how exactly it works, though. No offense against your music."

"None taken", Michiru reassured her, smiling up at her; Haruka returned the smile at once, and yet again, a picture was taken of the moment, forcing the taller woman to hold back an annoyed roll of her eyes, the various headlines these pictures might accompany in the next day already dancing through her mind – when the scream echoed through the large hall, causing everyone to fall silent in shock as they stared at the one responsible for the yelling, turning out to be the host of the gala, both Haruka and Michiru tensing up as they saw him shiver and tremble before his body started to change, both of them knowing perfectly well what this meant.

* * *

"Here, this should do", Haruka almost snapped not even two minutes later, time they had spent with finding a secluded place where they could transform; said place turned out to be a broom closet, not very spacious, but big enough to let them both change without trouble, the blonde as always grimacing the moment the transformation had finished and tugging at her skirt, still not used to how short it was.

"Come on", Neptune urged her on, already moving towards the door, "let's go see if this man carries a talisman within his heart, and make sure he harms no one as long as he's like this…"

Nodding, Uranus pushed the door open and stepped outside, glad to see that most of the guests had fled the scene when their host had turned into the monster which was now looking around in what seemed to be confusion, apparently trying to figure out how to get out of the house, the glass doors everywhere confusing the thing which looked as if it had been a champagne bottle before it had been changed.

"How dumb is this thing?" Uranus hissed, shaking her head to herself as she cautiously approached the creature from behind, already clenching her fist; next to her, Neptune shrugged, not all too bothered by the monster's stupidity, too busy with trying to figure out the right angle for her attack, not wanting to risk injuring any of the people still around, all of them now staring at the two sailor senshi, whispering amongst each other about how rare it was to see one of them in the flesh.

"Get out of here", Uranus snapped at them, making them all flinch, "it's dangerous here right now!"

"Perignon!" the monster cried as if to underline her words, turning to look at her, distracted the crystal hovering in the air by the blonde's voice, "Perignon!"

"No thanks", Neptung dryly gave back, the sound of people running off behind her telling her that now, she could attack without endangering anyone; before she could call out the words which would cause said attack to form though, the creature bent its grotesquely long neck and lowered its head so she had a second to see the top of it, realizing just in time that it was made of cork – before the monster shot said cork at her, the projectile rushing towards her with shocking speed, her eyes going wide as she realized that she'd have no time to dodge.

Already bracing herself for the impact and the pain it surely would bring, Neptune held her breath – and then a tall, athletic figure tackled her and threw her down to the ground, the cork shooting past her head and embedding itself deep in the wall behind her, her heart racing in her chest as she felt herself being grabbed again and hauled to her feet, Uranus' concerned voice reaching her ears seconds later, asking her if she was alright.

"I am, thanks to you", Neptune let her know, briefly glancing up at her and giving her a slight smile; the taller blonde smiled back at her, then her gaze moved to the creature again and the smile vanished from her face, her eyes darkening as she took a step forward.

"I don't take kindly to monsters trying to harm my companion", she told the monster, prompting it to let out its annoying cry again; rolling her eyes, Uranus gave the creature another dark look, then automatically slid into a fighting stance, her voice thundering through the room as she called her attack.

"_World… Shaking!" _The brightly glowing ball of energy slammed right into the creature's middle, and it got thrown a few steps back, crying out in pain; taking the chance given, Neptune followed Uranus' example and finally conjured her attack up as well, adding even more damage to the amount the blonde had already caused.

Yelling in pain, the creature stumbled a few steps back yet again, hitting the wall; and then, both attacks hit it simultaneously, the shout turning into a low groan of pain as it slumped down to the ground, turning back into the gala's host moments later.

"Quite weak, that one", Uranus commented as she moved closer to the unconscious man and knelt down next to him, checking the crystal which now floated over his chest and frowning when she saw that once again, it wasn't one of the talismans they weren't looking for.

"Nothing again", she let Neptune know with a sigh, coming to her feet again and letting go of the crystal so it could sink back into the man's chest, "so we better find a place to change back, before the guests come back and see us."

Nodding, the aqua haired girl took the lead this time, making her way back to the broom closet with Uranus in tow; before she entered though, she turned to look at the taller woman, her voice serious when she spoke up. "You know, tackling me like that when this creature tried to shoot me was quite reckless again. You could have gotten hit instead."

Not sure what to reply to this, Uranus just shrugged, then glanced around to make sure no one had come back inside yet, her attention moving back to Neptune again seconds later as the aqua haired girl had one more word to say.

"Thanks", she told her companion with a small smile; not having expected this, all Uranus could do was smile back at her and shrug yet again, then they entered the broom closet without another word and changed back, stepping back outside just as people were returning to the hall and their host was coming back around.


	18. Chapter 18

It didn't really surprise Haruka that pictures of Michiru and her had ended up in next day's newspaper, to her relief none of them showing how she had emerged from the broom closet with the aqua haired girl; what did surprise her though were the comments which had been written about the photos, her eyebrows wandering up as she read through the article.

**Michiru Kaioh – gay?**

the headline asked quite directly, the author then pointing out how so far, almost no details about the violinist's private life had been revealed – before he, to Haruka's annoyance, questioned Michiru's intelligence, reminding his readers about the notorious behaviour of the racer and asking them how smart it could be to get involved with someone like that.

_No one can deny that they are visually appealing as a couple, _the article went on, making the blonde frown, _but one must ask why Kaioh-san would choose Tenoh-san as her companion, with the racer's exploits among the female population well known to her fans and followers._

"Hrmph", Haruka let out, not liking the tone of this article, "who does this guy think he is?" She crumpled the paper up angrily, momentarily feeling like throwing it into the trashcan – before her eyes fell on the headline again and she frowned to herself, now asking herself exactly the same question.

"Why couldn't you answer that in your stupid article?" she asked the paper, throwing it aside at last with a final glare; she shook her head to herself, then jumped as her phone rang, her annoyance only growing further when she saw that it was her manager calling, surely with the intention to ask her what the Hell had happened at the gala the previous evening.

"Hello?" she still took the call, knowing she had to talk to him sooner or later; and immediately, he gave the reason for his call, his words prompting the blonde to raise an eyebrow.

"What's going on between Michiru Kaioh and you?" her manager wanted to know, sounding quite excited, "are you dating her, or what? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't think it's any of your business", Haruka pointed out, "and no, we're not dating, we're just friends and I took her along to the gala since we both were going."

"Aw", the elder man let out, disappointed, "that could have opened a lot of new doors… But maybe a friendship might, too, so the chaos at the gala yesterday isn't that bad! What exactly happened there anyway?"

"Not sure", Haruka lied, "something happened to the host and he, um, turned into one of those creatures which keep popping up lately, but I ran off with the rest before anything else happened."

"Good thinking", her manager praised her at once, "the last thing we need now is that you get hurt by one of these things. Keep me updated about Kaioh-san, alright?"

"Yeah", Haruka sighed, even though she still didn't think that this was any of her manager's business, "I will. Talk to you soon."

"Yup!" the man agreed, to her great relief, before he said his goodbye; she did the same before she glanced at the newspaper once more, then got up from her seat and decided that she might as well use her free time for a little drive, smiling to herself as she already thought of said drive, suddenly barely able to wait for the feeling of the steering wheel beneath her hands and the power of her car all around her.

* * *

The driving soothed her as much as it always did, and after half an hour, she was as relaxed as she could be, leaning back into the car seat as she drove through Tokyo's streets; as always, people glanced at her car and at her when she passed them, and as always, it made her wonder if they were recognizing her and thus were staring or if the glaringly yellow colour of her car was attracting their attention.

Then, a flash of familiar aqua coloured hair caught her eye and her attention, and without even noticing, she slowed the car down, her gaze fixed on Michiru's back as she watched the violinist enter one of the buildings, not surprised when she saw that it was a store selling musical instruments and sheet music, a small smirk curling her lips as she parked her car in the next free spot, not even pausing to ask herself if this was a good idea.

Before she could start thinking about just this topic, Haruka killed the engine and got out of the vehicle, making her way to the store's entrance; upon entering, it didn't take her long to spot Michiru, the aqua haired girl standing at a shelf filled with books of sheet music, holding one of them in her hands and leafing through it, with the most adorable little pout on her face, the sight causing Haruka's smirk to widen slightly.

"Hey", she greeted her companion, forced to hold back a chuckle when Michiru flinched visibly, then turned to look at her, the way she immediately started to smile when her eyes met the taller woman's not unnoticed by the blonde.

"Haruka-san", she then greeted, lowering the book, having lost all interest in it, "how nice to meet you here. Are you looking for sheet music, too?"

"No", the blonde declined, not even glancing at the shelves with said sheets, "actually, I just happened to see you enter here and thought I'd say Hi."

"That's very nice of you", Michiru smiled at her, putting the book back into the shelf, "do you do this for all the pretty girls you're going to a gala with?"

"You're the only pretty girl I went to a gala with", Haruka pointed out in reply, glad that Michiru had brought this up first since now, she could do so without seeming too eager or curious.

"Speaking of the gala", she thus went on, giving her best to sound casual, "read today's paper already?"

"Of course", Michiru replied lightly, making Haruka wonder if she had to try just as hard for that tone as she had been struggling to adept a casual sound, "I read it each morning during breakfast. We look quite good on those pictures, don't we?"

"Yes", the blonde had to agree, frowning as she thought of the article again, "but the accompanying article wasn't that nice. It made me sound like some sort of gigolo."

"Well, some might say that you are", Michiru let her know with a small smile, a giggle escaping her when Haruka let out a cough; she gave the smaller woman a look, then brought the talk to the topic which really interested her, choosing her words wisely since she didn't want to end up offending the smaller woman.

"I thought you'd be more worried about the headline", she said, raising an eyebrow at the violinist, "I mean, after all, it basically asks Japan if you're gay."

"I noticed", Michiru replied quite dryly, turning to the shelf again and getting another book out of it, leafing through it, "it was quite prominently placed on the page after all."

"So?" Haruka decided that it was time now to ask the question which had been burning on her tongue since she had seen said headline, still giving her best to sound casual and even a bit jokingly, "are you?"

Briefly, Michiru glanced at her, with a glint in her eyes the blonde found hard to read; then, her lips curled upwards as she just as casually replied "I thought you already knew that" – before she looked down on the book again and went on with going through it, apparently not even noticing the dumbstruck way Haruka was staring at her now.

"Um", the blonde finally managed to let out some sort of noise, not all too intelligent as she had to admit, "okay…"

To her dismay, Michiru clearly wasn't willing to clarify, since she just glanced at her again and smiled – before she held up the book she had been looking at, letting the blonde know that she'd buy it and asking her if she felt like having coffee somewhere once she'd gotten done at the store.

"Um, sure", the taller woman agreed after a second, her mind still reeling from the violinist's casual response, "you're not… well, you know, sensing anything and want to stick together because of that, right?"

"No", Michiru shook her head, "but I'm not surprised, usually, the attacks don't happen so shortly after each other, and we just had one yesterday."

"Good point", Haruka nodded, "coffee it is, then. Once you paid for that book, unless you want to be in the newspaper again, as a petty thief this time."

"I'm not that desperate for publicity", Michiru let her know, smiling slightly again, "so just let me pay for this, then we can find a nice café."

Smirking, the blonde nodded, making her way to the cashier's desk with the smaller woman afterwards; the clerk there clearly recognized Michiru, since he gaped at her with wide eyes, then briefly looked up at Haruka, gulping visibly before he glanced aside, avoiding it to look at any of the two women as he rang up the book and told the aqua haired girl how much she had to pay.

"That was odd", Haruka commented as soon as the violinist had paid and they were leaving the store together, "why did he gulp like that when he saw me?"

"He probably read the newspaper too"; Michiru pointed out in reply, "and now, he's questioning my intelligence like the article did."

"That was quite rude", the blonde told her after a moment of thinking about this, not sure now why Michiru would bring that certain part of the article up again; and moments later, the aqua haired girl smiled at her, the strange glint back in her eyes as she replied, her words making Haruka's mouth go dry and once more causing her to just stare like a moron.

"Oh, I don't know", Michiru said, a small smile curling her lips, "you know, sometimes, love can cause people to do quite stupid things."

And with those words, she turned and walked off, Haruka remaining where she was a bit longer, staring after her with her mind racing – before she finally snapped out of her trance and hurried after the aqua haired girl, smirking to herself as she replayed Michiru's words in her mind again and again, suddenly sure that, should she try to kiss her again, she wouldn't end up being rejected after all.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Since I won't be home tomorrow until way late at night, I decided to be nice and update early. ;) Thank you all for reading, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well ;)

* * *

When they had parted that afternoon after having coffee together, Haruka had been planning to find out what exactly Michiru had meant with her strange words about love causing people to do stupid things sometimes as fast as possible; before she got the chance to do so though, she found the next three days filled with interviews and racing training and photo shoots, to her endless dismay not even talking to the aqua haired girl on the phone during those hectic times.

At least though, there also were no more monster attacks during those three days, to her relief; with her busy schedule, the last thing she needed was to be called by Michiru so she could join her in yet another fight, something which only happened on the morning of day four, with the creature this time at least being considerate enough to attack when Haruka had been lounging in her home, enjoying a few rare hours of free time.

Said rather simple plan was interrupted when the communicator Michiru had given her shortly after she had accepted the Henshin Stick started beeping on the living room table; startled, the blonde flinched, then let out a groan as she realized what this meant, still giving her best not to sound annoyed when she grabbed the small device and opened the even smaller lid on the smooth, round surface, the tiny screen flickering for a moment before it showed her Michiru, the smaller woman already transformed and looking immensely relieved when the connection was established between Haruka and her.

"Can you come?" she then asked, glancing to her right briefly when a tremendous crashing sound came from there, "it's a rather big one this time, it used to be a guy selling ice cream on the street and he turned into some kind of ice cream cone monster…"

"These things are getting more and more ridiculous", Haruka declared in reply, "but yeah, I have time, I can come, where are you?"

Already while Michiru told her the address, the blonde was making her way into the small anteroom of her home, hurriedly putting on her shoes and jacket there; she reassured Michiru that she'd be there as fast as possible, then snapped the lid shut, cutting off the connection, hoping that the other soldier wouldn't end up getting hurt until she'd make it there.

Not wanting to waste any time with waiting for the elevator, she almost ran down the stairs into the garage; there, she hopped right over the driver side door of her car, landing in the seat quite gracefully, the leather crunching beneath her weight while she already turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life, the sound despite the serious situation sending shivers up and down her spine.

"Alright", she mumbled to herself, smirking slightly as she drove out of the garage and to the address Michiru had given her, "there we go, knight in shining armour Haruka to the rescue."

The mental image of her wearing said shining armour and galloping to Michiru's rescue on an impressive black stallion nearly made her chuckle – before she reminded herself of the fact that a fight was not too far ahead in her future and forced herself into the proper mindset, her expression serious again by the time she spotted the bridge Michiru had given as the location of said fight up ahead.

In the middle of said bridge, she immediately spotted the creature Michiru had been talking about, having to admit that the violinist had been right – it was the biggest they had faced so far, towering over Sailor Neptune and yelling its stupid name at her while it flailed around wildly, firing projectiles which looked suspiciously like ice cream at high speed, keeping Neptune so busy with dodging and avoiding them that the aqua haired soldier had no time to retaliate with an attack of her own.

"Let's see how you'll do against two Sailor Senshi, you creep", Haruka muttered to herself, quickly parking her car in a dark side alley around the corner, not wanting anyone to spot her during the transformation; hurriedly, she thought of her Henshin Stick, and the blink of an eye later, it was in her hand, a smirk curling her lips as she called out the words which activated it, the bright golden glow which signalled her transformation surrounding her moments later.

Once again, she was amazed by how well she knew what she had to do when, which movements were required of her to make sure nothing would go awry during the change; and as always, it worked out just perfectly fine, a slightly predatory smile on her lips as she stepped out of the alley, now in full Sailor Uranus getup, for once not even caring about the short skirt, too focused on Neptune, a wince escaping her when she watched the aqua haired girl jump aside from yet another attack in the last second, a smoking crater torn into the bridge when the projectile hit where she had been standing seconds ago.

_Why does it make the concrete smoke if it's made of ice cream? _Uranus crazily thought to herself as she ran closer to the fight scene, then shrugged those useless thoughts off and called her attack; the creature began to turn when it heard her voice, but ended up being too slow, the energy hitting it in the side and sending it stumbling backwards, an angered cry coming from it.

"Took you long enough", Neptune greeted her, with a slight twinkle in her eyes though that showed that her words weren't meant as harsh as they might have sounded; smirking, Uranus just shrugged in reply, a mischief glint in her eyes as well when she replied. "Oh, you know, I thought I'd give you some time to work out first, didn't want to interrupt your gymnastic session too early…"

"How thoughtful of you", Neptune dryly shot back, then both had to jump again as the monster shot yet another projectile at them, making them realize that now, it probably wasn't the best time for banter.

"We better get rid of this guy", the aqua haired girl added, making Uranus nod, the predatory smile back on her face as she studied their opponent, quickly figuring out that hitting it right in the chest or the head should do the trick, as it usually did with these monsters.

"I'll distract it", she offered, "so you can move in for the kill, the head or chest should do, as usual."

"Be careful", Neptune sighed after a moment, during which she had considered declining the other soldier's idea; since she had seen though how fast the creature could fire, she knew that they didn't have much of a choice if they wanted to avoid both of them getting endangered, and she also was well aware of the fact that, thanks to her running and racing, Uranus had faster reflexes than her and could move faster as well, the idea that she'd distract thus making the most sense.

"I'll try", the blonde gave back, then called out "Hey! Frost face!" and started moving the moment the creature focused on her, jumping aside daringly when it fired at her immediately, the ball of ice cream hitting the pavement and creating yet another crater, the bridge by now riddled with them.

"That the best you can do?" she teased before she had to perform another daring dive, from the corner of her eye noticing how Neptune moved to get behind the creature; before she could focus further on what her companion was doing though, the monster shot at her yet again, and she jumped once more, rolling off her shoulder and coming to her feet again in one graceful movement that impressed Neptune so much that she nearly forgot what she had to do for a moment.

"You really need to work on your aim", she went on with the mocking, flipping backwards seconds later as yet another attack hit where she had been standing when she had said those words; and when her feet slammed to the ground, she had the blink of an eye to feel the bridge give way beneath her, the structure too weakened by the continuous attacks by now to withstand them any longer, before she was falling, a startled cry escaping her as the ground vanished beneath her feet and the water rushed up at her to meet her.

Dimly, she heard Neptune cry out her name, her real, civilian name, the note of panic in her voice not unnoticed by the blonde; and then, one of the chunks of concrete part of the bridge had been reduced to hit her in the head and the world went dark around her, seconds before she hit the water and went under at once, sinking as quickly as the stone which had fallen in with her.

* * *

When Neptune had seen the bridge crumble away beneath Uranus' feet, she had been sure that the blonde would manage to jump away in time, that she wouldn't fall; and when she had been forced to watch how the taller woman failed to do just that, vanishing from her sight as she fell along with the creature, her heart had leapt up to her throat, all rational thought leaving her as she yelled Uranus' name, her real name, the one no one but her was supposed to know as long as they both were in that form.

"Haruka!" she shouted again as she ran to the hole which had been caused in the middle of the bridge, falling to her knees on the edge and peering down; her heart almost tried to burst out of her chest again when she couldn't spot the blonde anywhere, and without thinking twice, she jumped, hitting the water at just the right angle to avoid injuring herself, holding her breath as she dived beneath the surface and frantically looked around, feeling like screaming again when she saw her companion float lifelessly a few feet beneath her.

Even though she knew that she should break through the surface again to get more air into her lungs, she couldn't risk wasting any more time, and thus started swimming downwards with fast, powerful strokes; quickly, she reached the blonde and grasped her collar, only now realizing that Uranus had changed back to her civilian form some time after her fall, her heartbeat impossibly speeding up even further at the realization – she didn't remember much from her former life as a Sailor Senshi, but she knew that an unwanted transformation back to the civilian self never meant something good.

_Don't be dead, please don't be dead, _she thought to herself as she swam back up, the blonde's collar firmly in her grasp, dragging her through the cold water behind her; a few seconds later, she broke through the surface, gasping for air while she grasped Haruka beneath the jaw with one arm, making sure to keep her head above the water as she swam to the shore. As always when a monster appeared, the civilians had fled the scene, not wanting to get caught up in the fight or even hurt by the strange thing; and as she climbed ashore with Haruka in tow, Michiru was glad about this, not wanting anyone to see how close she was to a nervous breakdown as she lowered the blonde on the ground and realized she wasn't breathing, her own breath getting caught in her throat, her chest tightening at the mere thought of losing Haruka, her mind running wild as she tried to remember what she had to do now, the slowly rising panic blocking out each rational thought she could have formed.


	20. Chapter 20

"Come on", Michiru made herself say at last, regaining enough control to think clearly, telling herself that she'd surely lose Haruka if she'd freak out, changing back to her civilian form as well without even fully noticing, "you can do this, you learned how to do this…"

She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a few slow, deep breaths to calm herself further, the instructions slowly coming back to her; only now, she realized that she should have checked for a pulse, and did just that, mildly relieved when she felt the blonde's pulse beneath her fingertips, faint and weak, but there.

_It won't be there much longer if you don't make her breathe again, _she then told herself, moving her hands from Haruka's wrist to her collar – and tearing her button-down shirt open at her throat with one powerful move, buttons flying everywhere while Michiru carefully, but still firmly leaned the racer's head back slightly to make sure her airways were free before she clamped her nose shut with index finger and thumb, then bent over her and pressed her mouth to Haruka's, breathing into her and for her, counting the breaths just as she had been taught.

"Come on", she whispered again after pulling back, feeling hot tears stinging in her eyes, "breathe, Haruka, please…"

Giving her best to remain calm, she bent over the racer again, breathing for her once more; when the taller woman didn't react at all, but remained lifeless and still beneath her shaking hands, she lost the fight, a harsh sob escaping her as tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Don't you dare to die on me now!" she then almost yelled, clutching the front of the unconscious woman's shirt, "don't you dare! Haruka!"

Holding back yet another sob, she bent down once again, her tears dripping down on Haruka's cheeks and rolling down the cold skin as she breathed for her, fighting down the urge to grab and shake her, knowing this wouldn't do any good; again and again, she gave her breath to the blonde, her despair increasing further and further with each gust of air she sent into the taller woman's lungs.

"Please", she nearly whispered as she finally had to pull back again, running out of air herself now, "please, no… you can't do this to me, Haruka, please…"

Taking in another deep breath, she bent down once again, and suddenly, Haruka violently jerked and heaved beneath her, a hoarse gasp coming from the blonde as her lungs started working again, her eyes flying open and a harsh shudder running through her body, the gagging sounds which left her mouth moments later muffled by Michiru's lips on hers.

It took the aqua haired girl a dreadful second to realize what was happening, her shock at the sudden success of her mouth-to-mouth keeping her from seeing that it had worked at last; and then, she regained her senses and hurriedly pulled back, grabbing Haruka and pulling her up into an embrace, holding her tight as she started sobbing helplessly, only now admitting how close she had been to losing the blonde – and how sure she already had been that exactly this would happen.

"Oh God", she whimpered while Haruka just limply laid in her embrace, disoriented and confused, "don't you ever scare me like this again…"

"Urgh", was all Haruka could let out in reply, not having regained the ability to talk yet; she felt dizzy and as if she'd throw up any moment, and her head hurt fiercely and Michiru was holding her tight and crying…

"Mi-Michiru-san?" she brought out as the last realization finally hit home, "what happened? Why are you crying?"

"Because you almost died, you reckless… woman!" Michiru almost snapped at her in reply, tightening her embrace around the taller woman, "don't you ever do anything like that again!"

"…sorry?" Haruka mumbled, trying to sit up further, only to be kept from doing so by the violinist's arms around her, "I don't even remember what…"

"I nearly lost you!" Michiru interrupted her, making the blonde wonder if she really was as angry as she sounded and looked or if she just was acting this way now to handle the fear and shock she obviously had felt at her predicament, "do you have any idea how scared I was?!"

"Sorry", Haruka tried to apologize again, even though she knew that what had happened hadn't really been her fault, "if I had known—"

She never got to finish her sentence, since all at once, Michiru embraced her even tighter – before she leaned down and cut her off in the sweetest way possible, her lips warm and soft on hers as she kissed her, with so much passion and fervour that it almost stunned the blonde into not reacting – before she regained her senses and responded to the kiss just as hungrily as Michiru was kissing her, her arms suddenly full of strength again as they came up and wrapped around the smaller woman.

Without even fully noticing what she was doing, she entangled her fingers in Michiru's long hair as they went on kissing deeply, the fact that she had been dreadfully out of breath just a minute ago forgotten; finally though, oxygen was becoming an issue, and they had to pull apart again, both breathing heavier as they looked at each other.

"You know, normally, I manage to kiss pretty girls without almost dying first", the taller woman then said the first thing was came to her mind; she realized the second the last word had left her mouth how stupid that sentence had been, but to her relief, Michiru just laughed slightly, still holding her close as she replied, the glint of mischief back in her blue eyes.

"Once again, your sarcasm is not appreciated", she told the racer, another laugh escaping her afterwards; smirking, Haruka shrugged as far as the aqua haired girl's embrace allowed it, mumbling "Can't help it" – before she pulled her down for yet another kiss, her heart soaring up to the skies when immediately, Michiru kissed her back, reciprocating her gesture by running one hand through her short hair.

"So not how I imagined our first kiss", the smaller woman muttered after they had pulled apart yet again, only to regret those words a second later as Haruka immediately took the chance given by them for teasing.

"Oh, so you imagined our first kiss?" she wanted to know at once, smirking slightly, "that's good to know."

"Please", the violinist huffed in reply, "as if you didn't. Do you think I never noticed the way you ogle me whenever you see me in the Senshi outfit?"

"I never did such a thing", Haruka lied without missing a beat, only to let out a yelp as Michiru whacked her arm, not hard enough to actually hurt her, but with enough force to startle her.

"Oh please", the violinist then huffed, "I know for sure you did. And I did, too, after all, you in that uniform is the only chance I get to look at those pretty legs of yours."

"Well, not anymore", Haruka smirked, finally managing to sit up even though it meant that she was moving out of Michiru's embrace, "now, you can look at them any time you like."

"Lucky me", the aqua haired girl gave back, then suddenly giggled, prompting the blonde to raise a questioning eyebrow at her, the explanation for her mirth following moments later and causing Haruka to chuckle slightly as well.

"We must look so awful", Michiru pointed out, "both of us soaked to the bone!"

"Yeah, bet we looked prettier at that gala", the racer replied with a roll of her eyes, "we better get into my car and home before anyone spots us and takes a picture of us looking like drowned dogs."

"Good idea", the violinist nodded, coming to her feet and then reaching out with one hand to steady Haruka when she did the same, just to make sure the taller woman wouldn't end up getting dizzy and fall down, "are you parked far from here?"

"No, just around the corner", the blonde started to explain, gesturing at said street, only to have her face fall when she realized that getting to said corner would be harder than she'd thought, making Michiru giggle again with her next words. "But the middle of the bridge is gone, so yeah…"

"We could swim across the river", the aqua haired girl suggested, smiling up at the racer, "it wouldn't make much difference anymore anyway, seeing how wet we both are."

For a moment, Haruka felt tempted to make a comment about how this could be taken the wrong way, then decided against it and just shook her head, giving the smaller woman a strict look as she replied.

"No thanks", she told her, crossing her arms over her chest for emphasis, "I've had more than enough time in the water for today. Let's just go look for another bridge."

"Alright", Michiru agreed at once, not having been fully serious anyway, images of photographs of Haruka and her swimming through the river in all the newspapers dancing through her mind; the taller woman smirked at her, then bent down for yet another kiss, brief and gentle this time, but still enough to make Michiru's heart soar, a wide smile on her face as she grasped the racer's hand when they started walking, all the panic and fear she had felt not too long ago forgotten.

* * *

Author's Note: And thus, I hopefully gave you all what you've been waiting for. ;)


	21. Chapter 21

"God, finally", Haruka sighed out half an hour later, dropping down onto her couch, not caring that she still was in her soaking wet clothes; clearly, Michiru did care though, since she scolded her at once, telling her to change before she sat down and risked ruining the leather.

"It's my couch", the racer protested at once, "if I want to ruin it, I can! And I can just buy a new one anyway."

"I'm not gonna sit next to you as long as you wear wet clothes", Michiru tried another way to make her change in reply, "and anyway, my clothing is all wet, too, can't you check if you got something I can wear while you go change?"

Again, the blonde had to bite back a comment, this time about how she wouldn't mind to have Michiru around without any clothing on; she just nodded instead, letting out a weary sigh before she forced herself to get up from the couch.

"Fiiiiiine", she then said, rolling her eyes, "I'll go change then and see if I have anything that might fit you. Be right back."

"Thank you", Michiru smiled, "but wait a second…" Curious what this was about, Haruka remained where she was, looking down on her companion with a raised eyebrow; moving closer to her, the violinist gave her another smile – before her hands came up and grabbed her collar, then pulled her down for quite the fierce kiss, fire immediately streaming through her veins instead of blood as their tongues met.

Now not caring anymore about how wet they both were, Michiru pulled her even closer, until their bodies were pressed against each other, one of her hands sliding to the back of Haruka's neck while the other moved up to run through her hair, a low moan escaping her when she felt the racer wrap both arms around her waist and hold her tight and so close that she could feel the taller woman's heart race in her chest.

Then, one of Haruka's hands slid from her waist further south, cupping her buttock and giving it a firm, but still tender squeeze; and that was when Michiru pulled back, shaking her head at the pleading look the blonde shot her at once.

"No, Haruka", she then told her, taking a step back just to be sure when the racer looked as if she wanted to pull her close again, well aware of how fast her self-control would vanish the moment the taller woman would kiss and touch her like that again, "we're not going to do this so fast. I'm not a girl for one night."

"I know", Haruka replied at once, nervously running one hand through her hair as the reason for Michiru's behaviour finally hit home, "and I don't want you for one night only, you know that…"

"I wish I did", the violinist sighed out in reply, not liking how fast the mood between them had changed, "but you do have to admit that you have a certain… image among the female world, and I won't just be yet another conquest you take to bed and never talk to again afterwards."

"That'd be kinda hard, seeing we have to fight together", Haruka pointed out in reply, cringing at the withering look she received for those words, realizing too late that this probably hadn't been the smartest thing to say.

"But even without that", she thus hurriedly went on, "I wouldn't do that to you, you mean something to me Michiru, really…"

"Then you can wait a while longer", the aqua haired girl replied, slightly smug now, and the racer let out a low growl when she realized that she'd been outwitted by the smaller woman.

"Fine", she gave in after grumbling to herself a bit longer, "you win. I'll go change and get you some clothes."

"Thanks", the aqua haired girl replied with a sweet smile; Haruka just grumbled once more, then finally left the living room and headed for her bedroom to change there, now cursing herself for how she had behaved before she had met Michiru, suddenly worried how this might affect the future they might have together.

* * *

"This feels so good", Michiru sighed out half an hour later, now sprawled on the couch, wearing one of Haruka's sweat pants – which the blonde's bathrobe belt tied around the waist so it wouldn't fall down all the time – and one of the racer's t-shirts, displaying the logo of the sport drink which was one of her sponsors on the chest, her feet up in Haruka's lap, the taller woman giving her a foot massage, rubbing and kneading the tension out of her toes and soles with long-practiced, tender moves.

"I know", she now winked at the violinist, "one of my specialities. I don't do it for everyone though."

"I feel honoured", Michiru reassured her, raising her head just enough so she could look at her, then dropping back down and groaning when the racer found an especially tense spot and increased the pressure of her fingers, nearly making the aqua haired girl arch her back at the unexpected flash of pain.

"Sorry", Haruka apologized at once, to her delight having noticed that she'd hurt her, "but I really have to… wait…" She pressed down hard once more, and this time, Michiru did wince – before the muscles relaxed and she sighed again, closing her eyes in delight.

"You know what would make this evening perfect?" she then asked, raising her head once more and forcing herself to look at the blonde, who raised a questioning eyebrow at her in reply, a smirk curling her lips though when the aqua haired girl elaborated. "Food. Warm, spicy, freshly cooked food."

"There's an amazing take-out service not far from my apartment", Haruka let her know, liking the idea, "I order food there all the time. We can get something from there."

"Guess it was too much to expect you to cook for me", Michiru teased, giggling at the look she received from her partner in reply.

"If you don't want to die today, don't ask me to cook", the blonde then told her, "and anyway, I'm giving you a footrub _and _I nearly died today, so give me a break, will you?"

"Don't joke about your near death experience", the violinist gave back, all at once serious, "I was really scared…"

"Sorry", Haruka apologized immediately, "that was really thoughtless, you're right, it's no topic to joke about… and I didn't even properly thank you for saving me."

"Well", Michiru smiled, to the blonde's relief not looking so dreadfully serious anymore, "you did kiss me, which was quite the nice way to say thanks."

"You kissed me first though", Haruka reminded her of this not unimportant fact, "but hey, now that you're on my couch that way…" Her smirk widened, and before the violinist had a chance to react, she was moving, carefully, but quickly getting Michiru's feet off her lap before she positioned herself above the smiling aqua haired girl, supporting herself with her arms so she wouldn't end up with her full weight on the smaller other woman.

"Gotcha", she rumbled, her low and hoarse voice sending shivers up and down Michiru's spine; all she could do was nod, and then Haruka was kissing her, with the same passion she had shown when they had kissed before she had gone to find the clothes, a content sigh escaping the violinist as she brought up her arms and wrapped them around the woman hovering over her.

"I don't think I'll ever get enough of this", the aqua haired girl mumbled after the kiss, moving one hand up to run it through Haruka's short hair, "kissing you just feels so… good. And right."

"It does", the blonde nodded, then nearly bit her tongue to hold back the next words – words about how she never had felt about anyone the way she felt for Michiru, and how much the smaller woman already meant to her, even though they hadn't even been dating for a day yet, well aware of the fact that such hasty declarations of great emotion might do more damage than good.

"Wait", she thus said instead, when another thought hit her, briefly making her eyes widen, "maybe, before we go on kissing, we should clarify a few things first."

"Like what?" Michiru wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, a mischief glint in her blue eyes, "that I won't get the car in case we break up?"

"To break up, we have to be a couple first", Haruka pointed out, quite bluntly as she had to admit, but figuring that beating around the bush wouldn't be of any use, "so… are we?"

"If you want to be", Michiru lightly replied, even though the mischief instantly vanished from her eyes, making it obvious to the taller woman that she wasn't taking this as easily as she wanted her to believe, "but just so you know, I'd be happy to call you my partner."

"…same here", Haruka let her know, making her smile from ear to ear at once; the two beamed at each other for a moment, then the aqua haired girl pulled her newly found lover down for yet another kiss, both of them more than glad that everything was working out so fine between them.


	22. Chapter 22

"So, Tenoh-san", the reporter smiled, leaning forward and giving Haruka a wink which immediately told her that the professional part of the interview was over and that now, it was time for the questions she had learned to hate during the last six weeks, "Kaioh-san and you are still dating, I hear?"

"Yes", she confirmed, holding back the urge to roll her eyes, knowing he was only doing his job and asking what people wanted to know, even though she had to wonder why everyone seemed so sure that sooner or later, she'd break up with Michiru, "we are. Still the whole 'so happy together' thing, you know."

"Such sweet words", the reporter gushed, smiling from ear to ear, briefly making her raise an eyebrow as she asked herself why this was making him so happy, "and how is Kaioh-san dealing with your quite… colourful past? Isn't she worried?"

"We've talked about it", the blonde replied, once again feeling the need to roll her eyes since they asked her this every goddamn time since Michiru and she had more or less declared to the public that they were dating, "and it's no problem. I promised her I'd never do anything to hurt her, and I'm planning to keep that promise."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that", the reporter smirked, then finally brought the interview to an end by wishing her good luck for her next race; glad that it was over, Haruka thanked him with a little smile, then got up from her seat and wished him a nice day before she headed out of the small meeting room where they had sat down for the talk, frowning when the moment she stepped into the hallway, the communicator started beeping her pocket.

Quickly, she glanced around, then spotted what she had been looking for – an empty office, and thus a room where she could talk to her partner in private, without anyone listening in. Making sure no one saw her, she hurried over to the door and pushed it open, then stepped inside and flicked the communicator open the moment the door had fallen close behind her, the small screen flickering for a few moments before finally, Michiru's face appeared on it.

"What and where?" Haruka asked, not wasting any time with lovey-dovey greetings – after all, her partner had already transformed, thus showing her that she either was close to fighting or in the middle of a fight, and that there was no time for sweet words and mushy stuff.

"Swimmer", Michiru gave back at once, glancing to her left nervously for a moment before she went on, "turned into some kind of water monster, and my attack's useless against it. Public swimming pool, close to the Tokyo tower…"

"On my way", Haruka reassured her, then snapped the communicator close and stuffed it back in her pocket; hurriedly, she left the room and made her way outside, glad that she had found a parking spot right in front of the building, eager to get to Michiru as fast as possible.

Ignoring the way people were staring at her as she ran to her car, she jumped over the driver side door and landed in the seat with the usual grace; she put the key into the ignition so fast that she almost risked breaking it off, starting the engine and speeding down the street not even a minute after she had left the building.

"Hold on there, Michiru", she mumbled to herself, ignoring all speed limits as she steered through the town, several other drivers honking and even yelling at her in outrage as she weaved through the traffic with reflexes and skills honed by years of race car driving, "almost there, hold on there…"

She stepped down on the gas pedal even harder, the needle on the speedometer moving even further to the right, reaching numbers which would make any police man have a heart attack; her grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly as she fully focused on the road ahead of her, the swimming pool building finally appearing up ahead, a bright flash of light from behind one of the windows showing her that the fight was still going on.

"Good", Haruka muttered to herself as she finally had to slow down again, parking her car in the first free space she spotted, "keep fighting that thing, I'm almost there…"

She took the time to kill the engine, then hopped out of the car and ran to the building as fast as she could; from the opposing sidewalk, a man wearing nothing but swimming trunks called out to her that she shouldn't go in there, that a monster was inside and that it would eat her, but she didn't even look at him, bursting through the front door and into the thankfully empty entrance hall.

Still she looked around once more to make sure there really was no one around before she pulled the Henshin stick from her pocket, once again briefly marvelling at the fact that it hadn't actually been in there until she had thought of it; after another quick look around to avoid being seen by any possible spectators through the glass door, she called out the words which started her transformation, unable to hold back a smirk when the warm golden glow surrounded her and she felt the strength and power which came with her transformation flow through her.

"Alright, you creep", she mumbled as soon as the transformation had finished, cracking her knuckles while she started moving again, "prepare to get your ass kicked."

Glad that by now, she was quite good in running with the high heels which replaced her regular shoes whenever she transformed, the blonde rushed down the hall and to the swimming pool area; she pushed the door open so violently that it nearly bounced back from the wall, then came to an abrupt stop as she took in the scene in front of her.

In the middle of the pool, a creature which looked as if it had been formed with water was standing right on the surface of said liquid, screeching up at the diving board; and on said diving board, Neptune was standing, just getting ready to toss another attack at the monster, even though she cut off in mid-sentence when she saw her partner enter, her expression clearly showing her relief and gratitude about Uranus' fast arrival.

Clenching her fist, Uranus gave her partner a brief, but reassuring look; then, she called her attack, once again smirking as she felt the energy form around her hand, still awed by how good it felt to have so much power at her disposal whenever it was needed – before she slammed her hand down and the ball of energy rushed at the water creature, a strangely bubbling cry coming from it when it hit.

"Yours is having an effect!" Neptune cried from the diving board, looking as if she wanted to bounce on the spot with glee about this fact, "quick, hit it again!"

Nodding, the taller woman did what her partner had suggested, firing yet another attack at the water monster; it screeched in pain again, then gave her a comically annoyed look – before it reached down into the water it was standing on and somehow pulled a block of it out of the pool, flinging it at Uranus with another angry screech.

With a daring dive, the blonde got out of the way before the water could hit her, and it slammed into the wall behind her instead, to her amazement leaving a visible dent in the stone; she gaped at it for a moment, then shrugged it off, focusing on the monster again as she let her attack form for a third time, hoping that it'd be enough to turn the creature back into the person it had been before the strange transformation.

"_World… Shaking!" _her voice echoed through the pool hall, accompanied by the low booming noise her attack created whenever she sent it flying; it hit the creature right in the centre, and with a final, loud cry, it changed back into the man it had been, said man unconscious and immediately starting to sink.

Without missing a beat, Neptune rushed to the edge of the diving board and jumped, giving Uranus a chance to marvel at how graceful she was as she dove into the water headfirst; she vanished under the surface, only to come back up not even half a minute later, with the still knocked out man firmly in her grasp, holding him tight as she swam to the pool's edge, where Uranus was already waiting, taking the man from her and lifting him out of the water.

"You alright?" she asked her partner while she lowered the guy on the ground and made sure he was breathing and his heart was beating steadily; nodding, Neptune pulled herself out of the water as well, then surprised the taller woman by pulling her down into a fierce embrace and passionate kiss, the blonde getting over her surprise quickly though and returning both the hug and the kiss with the same fervour Neptune was displaying.

"Thanks for coming here so fast", the aqua haired girl mumbled after they had pulled apart again, "I really would've had a hard time to defeat that one on my own…"

"That's what I'm here for", Uranus reassured her, her hands caressing the smaller woman's back tenderly as she smiled down on her; smiling back, Neptune nodded, then pulled her down for yet another kiss, a small, but content sigh escaping her when she felt the blonde hold her even closer.

"Let's get out of here", the taller woman muttered into her ear, her warm breath on the sensitive skin there sending shivers up and down Neptune's spine, "before this guy wakes up and starts asking questions."

Nodding, Neptune finally stepped out of the embrace, then briefly closed her eyes as she changed back; this prompted her partner to do the same, a frown appearing on the taller woman's face when she noticed that now, in civilian form, Michiru was quite obviously favouring her right leg, avoiding to put any weight on it as much as possible.

"I thought you said you're alright", she commented with a hint of scolding in her voice, moving closer again to put her arm around the smaller woman's waist and making it easier for her to stand, "did that thing hit you after all?"

"No", Michiru gave back, to Haruka's amusement blushing faintly at her own words as she spoke on, "when I hurried up to the diving board to get out of range, I kinda… slipped on the ladder and twisted my ankle."

"Good thing you didn't fall", the blonde smirked, earning a scolding look for her obvious amusement about the incident, "and that no one saw you. The elegant and graceful Sailor Neptune, twisting her ankle on a ladder?"

"I was in a hurry, okay", Michiru gave back, managing to keep up the stern look for a few more seconds – before she giggled and shook her head, the mischief sparkle in her eyes she only ever let Haruka see making the taller woman's smile widen.

"I have to agree though, it must have looked pretty funny", she then admitted, earning a low chuckle from Haruka; the two smiled at each other for another moment, then the blonde nodded into the general direction of the door leading outside, making her companion nod as well with her next words.

"Come on", she suggested, tightening her grip around Michiru's waist a bit, "let's get you home, that ankle should be cooled. My place or yours?"

"Mine", the aqua haired girl told her at once, "it's not far from here. I chose a place close to the public pool so I wouldn't have to go far whenever I want to go for a swim."

"Good thing you did today", Haruka commented as she started walking towards the door with her partner, "or the poor guy back there might have ended much worse."

Nodding, Michiru briefly glanced at him over her shoulder, the young man still unconscious on the wet tiles; then, she told herself that he'd be fine and focused on the blonde by her side again, allowing herself to lean on the racer as they left the pool hall together and made their way to Haruka's car, once more glad that the taller woman had accepted her destiny and had entered her life several weeks ago.


	23. Chapter 23

"You got some ice here?" Haruka asked the moment they had entered Michiru's home; nodding, the aqua haired girl let her know that her fridge had a build-in ice cube machine, making the blonde smirk as she led her partner into said room, telling her to sit down there and moving to the fridge once the violinist had made herself comfortable.

A quick search rewarded the blonde with a dish towel, Michiru watching with a slight smile on her face how Haruka started filling it with ice cubes, grumbling about how the machine was too slow with supplying them; and while the racer was busy with that, the aqua haired girl finally dared to take off her shoe, wincing at the sight of the swollen and already bruising ankle.

"Stupid ladder", she mumbled to herself, prompting Haruka to briefly glance at her before she focused on her task again, "and stupid creature made of water."

"Good thing you didn't have to face that before I joined you", the blonde commented, finally deciding that there were enough ice cubes in the dish towel now and carefully folding the cloth, then moved over to where Michiru sat, warning her that this might feel a bit unpleasant now as she knelt down and carefully wrapped the towel around her ankle, the violinist briefly hissing at the cold, goose bumps forming on her arms.

"You'll get used to it in a minute", Haruka reassured her, smiling up at her, "trust me, I know. I twisted my ankle quite a few times during my running days."

"And then you make fun of the same thing happening to me?" Michiru wanted to know, shaking her head, "you should be ashamed."

"Nah", the blonde gave back at once, not really surprising her partner; smirking, the aqua haired girl gave her another mock scolding look, then made it clear that she had forgiven Haruka her teasing by taking the taller woman's face into her hands, bending down and kissing her, one of her hands moving to tousle the short blonde hair while she felt the racer's arms snake around her waist.

"I think your kiss is the best medicine ever", Michiru dreamily sighed once they had pulled apart again, her eyes sparkling, "I barely feel anything anymore."

"Only works for you though", Haruka reassured her, trying to ignore the stirring in her loins – even though she had been at her best behaviour ever since she had started dating Michiru, even holding back about the flirting with other pretty girls, the aqua haired girl still wouldn't go any further with her than kissing and cuddling, clearly not willing to spend the night with her yet, making her wonder if she still was worried that she'd just ditch her in the next morning.

"Good to know", Michiru winked at her, then changed the topic by asking her how the interview had been and if she'd interrupted it, glad when the blonde shook her head.

"We'd just gotten done when you called for me", Haruka then explained, making Michiru smile by grasping her hand and holding it tenderly, "and of course they asked the usual questions about you and me. Are you worried I might cheat on you, are you annoyed by the rather busy lovelife I had before we got together…"

"They keep asking me similar questions", Michiru let her know with a roll of her eyes, "so nosy. As if it's any of their business."

"The dark sides of being famous", Haruka smirked, making the violinist giggle slightly and nod; then, she let out a hearty yawn, covering her mouth in the last possible second and making her partner chuckle lowly, her laughter earning her yet another strict look from the aqua haired girl.

"Don't laugh", she then scolded, "it was really tiring to avoid all those attacks the monster threw at me."

"I can imagine", Haruka admitted, getting up from her kneeling position again at last, "so come on, you should get some rest then."

Nodding, Michiru let the blonde help her up from her seat, enjoying the feeling of the taller woman's strong arm wrapping around her waist again; together, they made their way into the violinist's bedroom, where Michiru let herself fall on the bed rather un-ladylike the moment she was close enough to do so.

"So nice", she sighed, looking up at the ceiling; feeling a bit awkward, not sure if she should join the aqua haired girl or not, Haruka just nodded, then realized that Michiru couldn't see this, and made some vaguely agreeing noise, prompting the smaller woman to raise her head and invitingly gesture at her side.

"Come lie down with me?" she then suggested, smiling at the blonde, "or don't you want to snuggle?"

"I always want to snuggle", Haruka smirked, holding back a comment about how she also would be willing to do much more than snuggling; instead, she just laid down next to Michiru, pleasantly surprised when immediately, the aqua haired girl snuggled up to her.

"Nice", the violinist mumbled as she rested her head on Haruka's shoulder, the blonde finally realizing that she should return the gesture in some way and putting both arms around her, "I've been wanting to do that for a while now…"

"Good thing I can fulfil that desire", the racer gave back, once more holding back a comment about how she could do so much more if Michiru would just let her; smiling, the violinist nodded, stealing a quick kiss from her partner before she made herself comfortable again and quickly drifted off into sleep while Haruka kept holding her, staring up at the ceiling as she kept pondering how she could convince Michiru that she wouldn't just drop her after they'd finally spend the night together

* * *

Later, Haruka didn't know when exactly she had fallen asleep, but what she did know for sure was that there were better ways to be woken up than to hear Michiru scream in panic next to her, her eyes flying open as the sounds the aqua haired girl was making startled her away and sent her heart rate through the roof, causing her to sit up so quickly that she nearly threw Michiru off the bed.

"No!" Michiru yelled next to her, still caught in her nightmare as she tossed and turned on the bed, "no, please! Haruka!"

"Michiru!" the blonde tried to wake her up in response, grabbing her shoulders, "wake up, it's just a nightmare, you're—"

Michiru's eyes flew open, and she let out a startled cry – before she lashed out at the figure bent over her, only realizing what she had done when her hand connected with the person's jaw and she heard Haruka grunt with both surprise and pain.

"Oh my God!" she cried out, snapping out of the nightmare at last and realizing that she was awake and safe, "Haruka, I'm so sorry…!"

"I'm okay", the blonde hurriedly reassured her, giving her best to hide the fact that she had been hit quite hard from her, "really, it's okay… What were you dreaming of?"

"I failed you", Michiru brought out in reply, her voice cracking at the last few words, the fact that all of a sudden, she was close to tears startling her partner, "we couldn't stop the Silence, and I failed you, and you died in my arms…"

"I'm not gonna die anytime soon", Haruka hurriedly reassured her, even though she knew that probably, this was easier said than done, seeing how often Michiru and she ended up in fights against all kinds of monsters, "it was just a nightmare Michiru, it doesn't need to mean anything…"

"Who knows?" Michiru sniffled, losing the fight against her tears as they started to roll down her cheeks, the sight prompting Haruka to pull her into a tender embrace, "we're both having dreams about the silence, so what if it happens? I couldn't take it to lose you, Haruka, I just found you…"

"You won't lose me", the blonde told her at once, moving one hand to caress her hair tenderly, "I promise. You'll have me around so much you'll grow sick and tired of me."

"Never", Michiru gave back without missing a beat, looking up at her while she wiped off her tears, "I know we haven't been together for long yet, and it might be too early for saying such things, but you mean so much to me… I'll never grow tired of you."

"Um", was all Haruka brought out in reply, blinking in surprise, finding herself at a loss for words – talking about any kind of emotion had never been easy for her, and with Michiru, it was even harder, seeing that the aqua haired girl meant so much to her already, as well.

"It's alright", Michiru told her, leaning into her tender touch as she still was caressing her hair, "I know all this mushy stuff isn't easy for you. But I needed you to know…"

Still at a loss for words, Haruka just nodded; to her relief though, the aqua haired woman clearly didn't take offense, since she smiled at her, then leaned in for an innocent, but sweet and tender kiss, her smile widening against the blonde's lips when she felt her respond at once, the embrace tightening around her.

"Your kiss tells me more than you'll ever know", the violinist whispered breathlessly once they had pulled apart again; this time, Haruka returned her smile, then kissed her once more in reply, trying her hardest to put all her feelings and longings and hopes into that one kiss, realizing that she had succeeded when she felt Michiru embrace her tightly and how the smaller woman's heart was racing in her chest, her worries at least for the moment forgotten.


	24. Chapter 24

Another two weeks had passed since the fight against the water creature, and three more monsters had been fought and defeated by the couple; to their dismay, one of the spectators had managed to snap a photo of them during the third of those fights, but fortunately for them, they had been moving around enough during the whole battle to make sure that no one would recognize them, Michiru reassuring Haruka additionally that, while they were in their Sailor Senshi state, some sort of special magic was making sure that people couldn't see through the disguise, to the blonde's great relief.

What relieved her even more was the fact that during those three battles, they managed to get out of them unscathed, the monsters being the only ones ending up hurt; after their closer encounters with other creatures, Haruka was glad whenever they managed to get rid of one of them without ending up hurt themselves, still remembering how she almost had drowned and how freaked out Michiru had been, an experience she didn't want to repeat any time soon.

By now, they worked so well as a team that it was almost eerie, always knowing perfectly well when the other one would use her attack so they could time them in the best way to do the most damage; thanks to this, they defeated their enemies faster and faster, during the last fight not even having to get close to the creature anymore.

"If we keep this up", Haruka told her partner as they were on their way to the pool hall together, the aqua haired girl having explained that she'd had a tiring day and needed to swim a few rounds, an exercise which served as a major stress reliever for her, "we'll soon blast them to pieces without even having to stop walking."

"Don't get cocky", Michiru warned her in response, as always the more level-headed of the pair, "that'll only cause you to get reckless again and then you might end up hurt once more after all."

"As if I still could _get _cocky", Haruka snickered, making her partner smile slightly as well, "just in case you didn't notice yet, my picture might as well be in the lexicon right next to that word."

"I know", Michiru giggled, reaching over and placing her hand on the taller woman's upper thigh, unknowingly sending jolts of electricity all the way to the blonde's brain – after all, Michiru still hadn't let anything more than kissing and cuddling happen between them, and by now, she ached for making love to the violinist so much that it almost hurt her physically.

Still, she never tried to take their make-out and cuddling sessions any further, always telling herself that she had to prove it to Michiru that she could wait until she was ready and that the smaller woman wasn't just a one night stand for her; every now and then, she asked herself if Michiru actually realized what she was doing to her and if she felt just as much need for more intimate physical contact, but held back, still fearing what might happen after Haruka and she had made love for the first time.

_By now, she should have noticed that I'm serious about this, _the blonde thought to herself as she kept driving, the way the wind was ruffling through her hair helping her to relax as much as swimming helped Michiru, _but it won't help to push her, so be patient, Haruka, you'll get lucky sooner or later…_

An empty parking lot close to the pool hall caught her attention, and she smirked to herself in triumph; with quite the daring swerve, she parked her car, chuckling lowly when Michiru let out a little squeal at her rather reckless manoeuvre.

"Haruka", she then admonished, shaking her head, "don't do that when I'm in the car with you. It's scary."

"Aw", the blonde gave back at once, killing the engine and getting out of the car, making her partner smile by hurrying around it afterwards and holding the passenger side door open for her, "no need to be scared, Michiru, I know what I'm doing. Race car driver, remember?"

"Violinist and artist, remember?" the aqua haired girl shot back while she got out of the car and, once Haruka had closed the door again, grasped her hand, "I have a gentle and sensitive soul."

"Says the woman who blasted our last opponent off a skyscraper", Haruka smirked, making her partner giggle; the two smiled at each other, then briefly stopped walking to exchange a short, but tender kiss before they entered the pool hall together, the blonde immediately making her way to the swimming area, not eager to get into the water as well, while Michiru went to change into her swimsuit.

While she waited for her partner to join her, Haruka chose one of the many empty deck chairs which had been put up around the pool, glad to see that they were the only people in the pool hall; briefly she wondered if the creature they had fought here two weeks ago had something to do with that, then shrugged it off as she made herself comfortable, crossing her legs at the ankles and her hands behind her head.

Looking up at the ceiling, she kept herself busy until Michiru's arrival by mentally going through her schedule for the next few days; unfortunately, it was quite packed with interviews and race training, but she knew that Michiru and she still would find time for each other, no matter how busy things got – after all, they both led quite the busy lives, and always had managed to at least talk on the phone on the rare days they hadn't seen each other in person.

Smirking to herself, this thought led Haruka to how much it amazed her how eager she always was to see Michiru, even if they had parted just the night before; during all her life, she never had felt as attached to anyone as to the aqua haired girl, and sometimes, it almost scared her how much she needed to have the violinist in her life – after she had left her home, she had sworn to herself that she'd never depend on anyone ever again, but then, Michiru had entered her life, and that oath had went out the window, just like her need to sleep with any willing girl had.

The sound of a door opening distracted her from those ponderings, and she looked into the direction the noise had come from; and moments later, her eyes widened and her mouth went dry as her gaze fell on Michiru, her heart suddenly beating twice as fast as usual, her arousal so strong all at once that she was sure the violinist had to see it on her face, or perhaps even smell it, a gust of hormones impossible to miss.

Smiling at her, with a towel dangling loosely from one hand, Michiru walked over to the deck chair her lover had chosen; each step displayed muscles moving beneath her silk-like skin as she moved with the grace and hidden strength achieved through hours upon hours of swimming, displaying more than enough of how exactly that had toned her legs as she approached the blonde, her bathing suit covering up her chest and stomach, but leading her shoulders, arms, legs and most of her back free.

"Like my new swimsuit?" she teasingly asked as she tossed the towel at the blonde, who somehow managed to catch it despite how awestruck she still was and looked, "I bought it just yesterday."

"Urp", Haruka let out in reply, the way her appearance had made the racer go non-verbal prompting Michiru to laugh heartily; swaying her hips seductively, she moved the last few metres to her partner, then straddled her, smiling down on her as she placed her hands on the still stunned woman's shoulders.

Bending over her, she simultaneously gave her quite the good look down her cleavage while she made sure that her long hair fell over her shoulders and tickled the blonde's face; she heard how Haruka's breath hitched and held back the urge to smirk evilly, pleased and aroused by the racer's reaction to her – she had been hoping to affect her when she had chosen that particular swimsuit, but she never had dared to imagine the taller woman to react so strongly.

"Bet you regret it now that you brought no swimwear, huh?" she whispered, her hands sliding down the blonde's upper body – before she jumped up again and, without giving Haruka a chance to react, rushed to the edge of the pool, the taller woman's incredulous voice mixing with her laughter as she jumped and dived into the water. _"Michiru!"_

* * *

An hour later, the couple was on their way to Michiru's home; and after watching her partner swim for fifty minutes, Haruka felt as if she'd explode any second, as aroused as she never had been before in her life, finding herself unable to keep her gaze off the aqua haired girl, glancing over at her again and again, glad that it wasn't far to her lover's home. If Michiru noticed that Haruka was looking at her again and again instead of focusing fully on the road, she didn't let it show; instead, she looked out the window, one hand resting on the blonde's upper leg again while the other idly played with the hem of her blouse, pulling the fabric up far enough every now and then to let the racer next to her glimpse a thin strip of skin, making her wonder if this was done on purpose.

Gritting her teeth, her grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she felt her heart speed up in her chest again; Michiru briefly glanced at her and smiled to herself, still impressed by how well the bathing suit had worked, the way Haruka was gripping the steering wheel and her flushed cheeks showing her that said bathing suit, combined with her quite skilful and elegant swimming, had pushed her partner quite close to the edge.

For a moment, Michiru felt bad about doing this to her, after making her wait so long for anything more intimate than kissing and cuddling; since she was quite sure though that soon, that wait would be over, a wait which by now was more than unpleasant for her as well, she told herself that it hadn't been such a nasty thing to do, and that surely, Haruka would be rewarded soon for dealing with this.

"Look", she spoke up after convincing herself of these thoughts, "there's a free parking lot right up there, lucky us."

"Lucky me, you mean", the blonde smirked at her, her voice even lower and huskier than usual, one of the signs Michiru by now could identify as proof for arousal; she just smiled back at her partner, sure that, in front of the taller woman's inner eye, she still was wearing the swimsuit, Haruka returning her smile with a lusty glint in her teal eyes before she parked the car, killing the engine and nodding at once when the aqua haired girl asked her if she wanted to come upstairs with her.

_In both ways of the word, _she then thought to herself, feeling her cheeks heating up and hoping she wasn't blushing; if she was though, Michiru was kind enough not to mention it, simply leading the way in silence as they walked up the stairs to her apartment, both of them taking off their shoes and jacket in the small anteroom before the violinist asked her lover if she wanted something to drink.

"Follow me then", Michiru smiled at her, making her way into the kitchen, the taller woman doing just that; she stopped at the fridge to get the drinks, retrieving two cooled cans of ice tea, and when she turned around to look at Haruka again, the blonde was eying her strangely, momentarily making her wonder if something had happened during the short moments her back had been turned – before the blonde suddenly moved, with surprising speed, and pushed her up against the fridge, briefly making her glad that she had thought of closing it again before turning back to her partner, then the taller woman's lips were on hers, kissing her fiercely, her hands sliding beneath her blouse and caressing the warm skin of her back, sending shivers up and down her spine.

Without breaking the kiss, Haruka pulled her away from the fridge and, to her surprise, spun her around, until she bumped against the kitchen table, fortunately not hard enough to get hurt; and seconds later, the blonde's arms were around her waist and she was lifted up, barely managing to get one hand behind her to steady herself as she was lowered onto the wooden surface with quite the fervour, not even really noticing how her legs came up and wrapped around Haruka's waist, her other hand moving to the back of the racer's head, her fingers running through her short hair as they kept kissing.

"No more waiting", Haruka growled at her as she finally had to pull back from the kiss, her fingers already working on unbuttoning Michiru's blouse, the piece of clothing falling open moments later and exposing her toned upper body, along with the lacy black bra she was wearing, a low moan escaping her when the blonde trailed her fingertips up her stomach to her chest, with a gentle, yet still demanding touch.

"No more waiting", she agreed breathlessly, "but… bed. No way I'm gonna have my first time with you on the kitchen table."

For a moment, Michiru was surprised at herself, at how coherent she still was despite the arousal which was burning within her; and then, Haruka was making some agreeing noise and picked her up on her arms, earning a surprised squeal from the violinist – before she smiled and intertwined her fingers behind the racer's neck, her eyes sparkling with now unhidden lust as the taller woman carried her off to the bedroom.

* * *

Author's Note: To give credit where it's due, the "kitchen table" scene was strongly... inspired by this fanart on DeviantArt, done by the talented DonRondo (remove spaces):

senshilove . deviantart gallery / ? set = 4859969&offset = 48# / d4f82z5


	25. Chapter 25

Author's Note: And here we go with the epilogue. I know it's kinda short, but to make up for that, I can tell you that the next fic about our favourite duo is already written and I will start posting it here soon. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this story! :)

* * *

The bright sunshine was the first thing which registered in Haruka's tired mind, and she nearly cursed – before she realized that she laid fully naked in Michiru's bed, the aqua haired girl in her arms, just as naked, still slumbering soundly, obviously more tired out from the activities of the previous afternoon and night than Haruka was.

Smiling to herself, the blonde thought of those activities, the area between her legs tingling at the mere memory; it still astounded her how much stamina Michiru and she had shown – and how quickly they had figured out what the other one liked, how they had to touch each other to keep up and even increase their arousal.

What stunned her even more though was how much she loved the aqua haired girl, a feeling she felt each time she merely looked at her; and the lovemaking of the previous day and night only had increased those feelings, giving them an intensity she never had experienced before in her life.

_Way to go, Haruka, _she thought to herself, rolling her eyes, _all your life, you preferred one night stands with no meaning and no obligations, and now, with the first real relationship you have, you're in head over heels. _

For a second, she wondered what would happen to her, should Michiru change her mind and break up with her; then, she forcefully pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself that surely, the aqua haired girl would do no such thing – after all, they were destined to fight together, and it almost seemed to her as if the same fate which had chosen them as Sailor Senshi also had decided that they were supposed to be together.

Briefly, she wasn't sure what to think of this, if she liked the thought that she had a destined partner in this life and had been found by her, or if she despised the idea that her life had been so pre-programmed without her knowledge; and then, Michiru stirred in her embrace and opened her eyes, and the moment her gaze met the violinist's, all those thoughts were forgotten, the love she felt for the smaller woman suddenly so strong that it nearly choked her.

"Good morning", she somehow managed to say anyway, and immediately, Michiru smiled, lighting up Haruka's world with her smile; she sleepily returned the words, then craned her neck to kiss the blonde, a tender and slow kiss, showing how much deeper their connection went after the previous night.

"Slept well?" Michiru wanted to know after the kiss, lazily drawing invisible circles on the blonde's stomach as she spoke; nodding, Haruka smirked, her moment of mushiness forgotten as she replied with the exact words the violinist had been expecting. "How could I not have, after what we did all night?"

"I'm glad to hear that", the smaller woman giggled, "because I slept just as well, for the same reasons. That was an amazing night…"

At once, Haruka nodded, for once not having a smartass comment; the two smiled at each other for another moment, then Michiru asked her partner if she was up for breakfast already, earning yet another nod in response.

Together, the couple got out of bed and got dressed, then made their way into the kitchen; there, Haruka started the coffee machine, explaining that she needed her morning portion of the "life elixir", as she referred to it, making the violinist giggle with her words, the sound warming the blonde's heart, while Michiru raided the fridge for things they could eat for breakfast, soon having a nice selection of food on the table.

"So", Haruka smirked the moment the aqua haired girl had put the last item down, moving up to her and hugging her from behind, "now that we've had our first time in your bed, is the table still off limits?"

"As long as there's food on it, yes", Michiru told her, turning in her embrace so she could look up at her, giggling when she saw the overly theatrical sad face Haruka was making; she shook her head, then pulled the taller woman down for another tender kiss, a small sigh escaping her when it deepened, the racer caressing her back tenderly through the t-shirt she had pulled on after getting up.

"I love you", the blonde breathed after they had pulled apart once more, then her eyes went wide, as if she was surprised at her own words; before she could say anything else though, maybe try to weaken the wonderful declaration she just had made, Michiru quickly reached up and placed one finger on her lips, her eyes sparkling when she replied. "Don't you dare say anything else now. And I love you too."

For a few more seconds, Haruka just kept staring, her mind still reeling at those three small words she just had blurted out – before she finally recovered and smiled, then pulled the aqua haired girl close for yet another kiss, suddenly sure that she had found the one who'd been meant for her and that she'd done the right thing when she had accepted her duty all those weeks ago.

End.


End file.
